The Force Unleashed

Part 1

Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

I stalked towards Ventress and her Dark Jedi friend. The latter, a masked woman raised her lightsaber in an overhead grip and charged me. I pointed my left hand in her direction and unleashed a wave of lightning that she caught on her blade but was forced to stop by the intensity of the attack. My eyes never left Asajj's face, who looked at me with apprehension. She summoned another lightsaber to her left hand from the blackened corpse of the man I fried and prepared to face me with her two weapons. Her spine stiffened and I could see determination shining in her dark eyes. I smiled thinly.

"So you do have spine then. Splendid."

I ceased my lightning assault at the masked woman and sent a nearby piece of shuttle's wing flying her way. Behind me, the clones were deploying and opening fire on the remaining droids. The weapon pods mounted on the gunships were making mincemeat of any concentration of enemy forces that was sufficient distance from the Jedi fighting in the hall.

The woman jumped over the smoldering piece of metal that flew her way just as I expected her to do. She was slammed backwards by a telekinetic wave that I sent at her. She flew back, and bounced off one of the columns lining the Great Hall.

I returned my attention to Ventress, who was running at me with raised swords. I faced her with blood-lust roaring through my veins. The Dark side was whispering to me that my enemies were at my mercy and I should take exquisite joy in destroying them. For once I agreed with its seductive suggestions.

I called to my empty left hand the lightsaber of the fallen Mon Calamari Jedi, the plain hilt rising from the ground and floating to my open palm. I think that the kid would have approved that his weapon be used one last time against those who slew him.

The azure blade, the color of virgin sea, came to life and I pointed it at the heart of Ventress, who was nearly upon me. My crimson lightsaber battered aside the sword in her left hand and the Jedi's weapon I held parried a diagonal slash aimed at my heart. In the first moments of our battle Asajj's torso was left wide open. I grasped the opportunity and I kicked her with my right leg like a battering ram. The sole of my foot connected with her midriff. My kick knocked the air out of her lungs sending her tumbling through the air.

I absentmindedly slashed behind me with the Jedi blade and deflected a scarlet lightsaber thrown at my back. The masked woman was back in the fight and she too had acquired additional weaponry. The Dark Jedi's own lightsaber was in her right hand but her left was gripping one of the saber-staffs of the fallen Temple Guards.

While she was sprinting my way she ignited the three blades. Her dark cloak and gray armor were illuminated by crimson and emerald glow.

The masked woman attacked me with sweeping strikes which I either parried or sidestepped. It was almost easy. The way she was wielding her weapons was awkward. She had let herself fall under the influence of the Dark side. While her attacks were powerful, they were erratic, lacking precision. If I paid attention I could dance around her the whole day without receiving a scratch.

I was not in the Temple for dodge training, though. The strength behind my strikes increased as I stopped testing her technique, which was lacking and not only because she was letting her anger blind her. I started cursing Darth Bane and Darth Sidious in Huttese. Properly trained, the woman I was facing would have been something to watch. As she was now, a mere initiate in Korriban's academy could fight with her and prevail. Despite her strength in the Force.

Both Jedi and the so-called Sith of this age were soft. Weak. However, there was hope yet for them. The war was young. There would be enough time for the survivors of both sides to be tempered and reforged. The flames of the Clone Wars would see to that, and if I had anything to say about it, neither the Jedi Order or the Sith would continue to exist as the corrupted abominations they were in this day and age.

I was advancing against the masked woman. My weapons were stabbing closer and closer to her body while she was desperately trying to interpose her blades between my attacks and herself. I rotated to the left, avoiding a clumsy counter-attack and used my momentum to batter aside her single hilt lightsaber. She stumbled to the side under the force of my attack and I twisted around once again and crouched under a weapon thrown by Ventress as she returned to the fight.

My left leg swung parallel to the ground and struck the masked woman in the back of the knees, sending her tumbling to the ground. I "aided" it with a telekinetic push thanks to which she was thrown away, bouncing off the floor.

I felt Ahsoka's distress through our bond and threw the Mon Calamari's saber her way. I acted on instinct, not even realizing what I did before the azure blade was spinning through the air. A damaged Magna Guard had made its way to the still paralyzed kid and was about to crush her skull with its force staff. Nahdar's blade flew true and was buried into the machine's torso, held in place by my will. I tugged at its hilt with the Force and the saber moved erratically slicing the droid to pieces. I could feel Ahsoka's relief and gratitude. I gave her a small nod.

Ventress used that minor distraction to cross the distance separating us and attack. If she expected to surprise me, the woman was delusional. Her Dark presence was like a delicious morsel to my senses. Our blades clashed with the unique sound of touching lightsabers and I locked our weapons together. A deft twist of my wrist was all I needed to push her saber to my right. My left fist darted through the air and struck her right cheek. I felt bone snapping under the impact of my armor-clad hand.

The hit staggered her and I repeated it again and again, turning that side of her face into a bloody mess. A short and non-lethal lightning bolt later she was convulsing on the ground.

The masked woman was back on her feet and charging at me.

"You know, the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results." I quipped at the Dark Jedi attacking me.

She used telekinesis to send the remains of a few droids at me as a distraction and darted behind the scrap metal, with her lightsaber leading the way. I banished the metal pieces at the ceiling and rotated around her weapon which was trying to skewer me. At the end of my spin I stabbed at the back of the woman who was passing by me. My crimson blade entered her back and exploded through the armor over her chest.

The masked woman stumbled a few steps forward and fell to her knees.

I did not expect to hear her rasping laughter. She used her left hand to remove her mask and turned her face towards me.

"You were deceived." There was a smile on her disfigured face. Its right side was a sculpture presenting perfect features which could be the envy of any woman. But its left was deformed, with the eye mostly hidden by a drooping flesh. "Ah, I see you've figured it out," she chuckled. "this was not as badly planned as you might think..." the words of the Chiss woman were lost to a fit of coughing.

"A clone. You are only days old." I declared, examining the creature carefully through the Force.

If I had met the original or if there were two copies of the same type in the Temple I might have sensed the deception earlier. As it was there was nothing to tip me off besides her bad training, yet she was too powerful for a mere clone with no time to be trained. How?

My eyes widened. I remembered a game I played back on my Earth. It felt ages ago.

"The Valley of the Jedi." I declared.

Sidious had found it. And now everything made sense. All this was a distraction merged with a test. I had no doubt that unless the Jedi had their collective heads out of their asses for once, Dooku was getting away right now.

My attention snapped back to the dying clone of the Chiss woman. I could feel Ventress' confusion. She was on the ground a few meters behind me and was starring at the clone.

"Well played." I congratulated the soon to be corpse.

She gave me a stiff nod.

"I have no regrets..." she coughed again. "At least my death has meaning."

"On the contrary child," I shook my head. I definitely did not mean 'Well, done! You've thrown your life so now you can have a biscuit as a reward.'. "Your masters saw that their pawns stood no chance against me, and found a way to address the issue of their incompetence. After all is said and done quantity does have its own quality."

Behind me Ventress attempted one last "surprise" attack. Foolish girl.

I ducked under one of her sabers and parried the second. Our eyes met. I grabbed her left wrist before she could attack me again with the lightsaber in that hand. I drew power from the Dark side to summon a lightning in the palm of my left hand. The same one holding Asajj's arm.

The Dark Jedi shrieked as energies born from the Dark side itself coursed through her body, lighting her nerves on fire. Her shouts were cut short when I buried my blade deep into her chest. Our eyes met and I saw the spark of life leaving her. Then something unexpected happened. I could feel a bit of power flowing from her corpse into me as the Force in her body started dissipating.

I shook my head. That was something to think about later. I released my hold on the remains of what until a moment ago has been Asajj Ventress slide to the ground in a boneless heap and returned my attention to the dying clone.

I could feel the life force leaving her with every heartbeat. I knelt in front of her and gently lifted her chin so I could look her in the eyes. Black and green stared back at me. Around us the battle was ending. With Yoda cutting loose on the few remaining enemy clones and my troopers added to the mix the remains of the CIS forces did not stand a chance.

As the Chiss woman was weakening so did the stasis field surrounded Ahsoka. The kid finally managed to cut through her bindings and stumbled to her feet.

"Thank you, Delkatar." she mumbled with a sad smile and ran to the other wounded padawan who had been lying abandoned on the ground.

"Always, kid," I smirked at her and returned my full attention to the dying woman in front of me. "Such a waste," I muttered to her. "Is this what you truly desire, child? To throw away your life before you had a chance to experience it?"

Inside I seethed with fury. What the Republic was doing with its clone army was bad enough. The Force cursed Separatists and that prick Sidious had gone a step further. This woman was a slave sent to die as a damn test! And she did not even know it! That was something that I wouldn't permit.

"Look at me!" I ordered.

Her hooded eyes met mine. She was weakening fast.

"Tell me what do you wish. Not what you were told that you want. But what..." I poked her in the chest near the wound I carved in her torso causing her to wince. "you desire for yourself!"

I stared in her eyes. Through the Force, I could sense the rough conditioning which was used to give her the minimum knowledge needed to accomplish this sick test. The same incompetent butcher had carved a geas in her mind, convincing her that dying to accomplish her mission was all she could ever look up to. Whoever did that had just won a special fate when I got my hand on the bastard.

Now she got my undivided attention. With no real training or experience to speak of she had fought splendidly against the Jedi. That was something I had seen through Ahsoka's eyes. Her crude attacks were not a sloppy form or because of a lack of talent. On the contrary, during her battles she had drawn instinctive knowledge from the Force about the fundamentals of lightsaber combat. It was a rare talent that I had not seen in a very long time.

I used a scalpel of pure Force to cut around the crude mental programming that was imposed upon this unfortunate woman who was made to simply be sacrificed. I sliced through dark tendrils that represented the conditioning and subtly used my power to remove them. I carefully withdrew from her mind and looked at her eyes, which were already clearing.

"Oh. What did you do?" she pouted like a little girl.

"Set you free, little bird. Now answer me. What do you wish?"

She looked at me with confusion. To be fair, it was a kind of a stupid question. She did not know enough about anything to know. Yet her answer was more than good enough.

"To live." she whispered, amidst a fit of coughing. The days-old woman fixed my eyes with a determined stare. "To win." Despite being on her knees and my fingers holding her chin, she gave a small nod towards the lightsaber in my right hand which was pocking her painfully in the chest.

I smiled at her proudly.

"You'll do."

I let the hilt of my saber slip from my fingers and clatter to the marble floor. I gathered the Force to me and used the emotions raging within my heart to demand its cooperation. I subjugated the Dark side to my will, gathering its energies in my right hand. The power of the Light side flowed to my left palm. I placed both hands on the chest of the expiring woman. Her mouth opened in a wordless "O" and her eyes widened when the unleashed power of the Force blazed into her body.

I could sense the Jedi gathering around us and felt their eyes upon me. Ahsoka was shouting something but I could not afford to listen. I was literally holding the life of this woman in my arms. What little was left of her life force was gripped in my metaphysical fingers and held in place only by my will.

I opened myself fully to the Force, becoming a conduit for the energies I was manipulating. Light and shadow danced around us. Through us. I could see the wound I had dealt to the woman, and see that even without it she had only weeks to live. Whatever process was used to clone her original who was undoubtedly one of the Dark Jedi in service of Sidious or Dooku – was far from perfect.

Her DNA was unstable, breaking apart. Talk about expendable soldiers.

"I will not let you die! I won't fail again!" I did not know that I shouted those words loud enough to shake the Great Hall.

The poisonous touch of the Dark side flowed like acid through the woman's veins, burning away strands of corrupted DNA. Right behind it, I poured copious amounts of Light side energy, modulating it in such a way to rejuvenate dying flesh and rebuild the basic code of life.

The hole in her chest was sealed shut by newly formed healthy flesh. Her heartbeat became steadier and stronger, while my own heart was hammering within my breast trying to jump out. I panted with the exertion of using so much power.

I was by no means finished but a warning I could not ignore was delivered through the Force. I quickly scaled down the energies I was channelling and looked around.

The battle was over. I was surrounded by the majority of the clones who survived the skirmish. My men were tense. They were gripping their weapons and I realized they were ready to aim and open fire. I wondered what had them on edge until I noticed the shouting. Yoda and Windu were arguing while Ahsoka was yelling at the Vaapad master.

In a loose semicircle around my troopers were scores of Jedi – both padawans and knights. Some were looking at the arguing masters but many more were starring at me.

I extended my senses beyond the woman I was busy tending. She was by no means alright but at least she was no longer in danger of dying any time soon. I had stabilized her DNA enough that she could sustain her own life using the Force. For more, she needed to see a specialist who could devise a therapy to clean up the rest of the mess. With my limited knowledge it was a small miracle that I was able to help her as much as I did.

I stiffened when I felt the emotions of the Jedi surrounding us. A small but still significant number were in awe by my performance. But most of them were afraid. Those people were giving me wary looks. I could feel it. They wondered how big a threat I was.

That was what Windu was arguing about. He was citing some kind of ancient law according to which the Jedi Order had jurisdiction over all Force sensitives in the Republic. Which included me too.

I was a threat that could not be ignored, wasn't I? Damn Jedi!

=RK=

Part 2

East Ball room, Senate Building, Coruscant

Anakin was looking glumly around the big room. He was confident that if the worst happened he would be able to get Padme out of this deathtrap in one piece. The same could not be said about the rest of the senators and their staff. Many of those people were his wife's friends so he was reluctant to leave them to their fate, even if he was not a Jedi.

Truth to be told he had a lot of options, in theory. What he'll be able to pull off while saving most of the hostages was different matter. He could use telekinesis to dealt with most of the droids and mercenaries, temporally, but such an act was likely to set off the charges around the room. It would be very easy for one of the enemies hurled by such an attack to cross one of the laser beams keeping the hostages secure. After what happened on Master Secura's flagship not too long ago, Anakin was convinced that he wouldn't be able to use the Force to erect a force field around himself and the senators to protect them from the explosions. At best he'll be able to save few people. At worst, even with the Force raging through him, now that he used his emotions to fuel its power, they all would be turned into pieces.

Skywalker thought about trying to use what most people called the "Mind Trick" to influence Bane but disregarded that idea almost immediately. Such a thing worked only on the weak willed and the bounty hunter was anything but. Failing in such an attempt was guaranteed to get people killed.

If he had his lightsaber he could have cut through the floor, provided there were not so many prying eyes... But that idea was not entirely without merit. He could use the Force to do it. It would not be fast but he might be able to weaken the thick metal enough, without being noticed, so one massive strike could cave it in. At least some of the senators had a good chance of getting away. Yet, if he messed up, he could shake the room and blow them all up to the stratosphere.

It all came back to the kriffing bombs! If they weren't there...

Anakin perked up at that thought and looked at the charges. He did not know how much explosive was in there or what kind. But he could see only the laser tripwires. He closed his eyes and concentrated on one of the charges. It took him more than a few minutes to make head from tails of what he was sensing, and then, Skywalker, had to suppress a grin. There was a built in receiver but no transmitter. The bombs were not linked by comms to detonate if one of them was tampered with. If they were, his plan would have gone down in flames. Anakin admitted there was no way he would be able to disarm all the charges at the same time. By the Force, he would only be able to work on two or three at the same time, at best, and there were nearly eighty of the things!

He concentrated on one of the charges with intangible fingers, and traced its internal mechanisms with the Force. Skywalker needed to sabotage the bomb in such a way that the enemy would remain unaware. It was a conventional explosive device. Which meant that there was a detonator in the compound that was meant to be blown up. After a minute of careful probing his "fingers" found it. Then a second and a third. Whoever built the thing was a firm believer in redundancy.

With great care, Skywalker traced the wires that connected the detonators to separate power sources and thought about the best way to disable the device. It took him minutes of painstaking work to ensure that the bomb thought it was still armed and ready to go off. However there would be no energy racing to the detonators. The charge was little more than expensive wall ornamentation now.

One down. Too many left to deal with. Anakin hoped that the damn bounty hunter didn't decide to shoot more senators before he had disarmed most of the charges.

Minutes later he had dealt with four more bombs when he sensed a disturbance in the Force. Anakin paled, and his head snapped to where he was hearing the death cries of Jedi! It was the Temple!

Bane noticed his reaction and chuckled.

"So the rumors are true. You Jedi can feel it when a number of your kind dies," the bounty hunter nodded to himself as if this was just a confirmation to something he knew.

"What have you done?!" growled Anakin.

"Me? Nothing besides what you see around you. Tell me, Jedi, do I look like a fool?! We always knew you wouldn't release Dooku, so steps were taken to release the good Count. The CIS wants him back."

Skywalker stared at the mercenary's eyes and shivered. He was mistaken about the aim of the attacks. He could see it in the man's eyes. Bane had no intention of letting any of them go. Oh, Anakin knew that rescuing Dooku and Grievous were high on the Seps priorities, but in the end it was a secondary goal. Skywalker was a Republic general so he was painfully familiar with the strategic situation. The CIS held all the cards because GAR needed at least six more months to be truly ready for a war of this scale. Naturally, their enemies were not inclined to give them the needed time.

The nightmare on Naboo was siphoning precious naval units for the blockade. With the consequences of the attack on Coruscant, the Republic was in even worse situation. If the bastards managed to kill enough senators, the army was likely to be paralyzed while the remaining politicians scrambled to organize. If the political crisis became bad enough, the CIS could force peace on their own terms. A devastated senate was unlikely to be able to resist. At least not with the GAR put on the defense upon all fronts as it was at the moment.

Either that, or the Chancellor would be forced to take even more power to clean up the mess. However, in doing so Palpatine may damage the Republic beyond repair, the Republic he had been frantically trying to save ever since he became Chancellor.

Anakin glared at the bounty hunter but declined to reply. He closed his eyes and sat down as if he were meditating. He disregarded the muttering of the senators, and concentrated on the next bomb. He was quickly running out of time. Skywalker gritted his teeth as he felt another Jedi die, and continued to disarm the charges.

He was up to number fifteen when his concentration was shattered, almost detonating the explosive by accident. Skywalker could feel Ahsoka fighting for her life, and loosing. It was very hard for him to suppress the instincts screaming at him to run to the Temple and help his padawan.

Anakin shuddered when he felt every one of her close calls. When she was caught is some kind of strange stasis field, he was ready to jump through the air. If it was not for all the people around him, counting on him to protect them, Skywalker would have been halfway to the Temple by now.

His body shook with impotent fury when he felt Ahsoka's despair. Anakin could almost see the blade descending towards his helpless padawan. Then everything changed. A wave of Dark side energies exploded from the location of the Jedi Temple and drowned everything else with its oppressive miasma.

The last thing he could clearly sense from Ahsoka was relief. Anakin smiled in a way that looked just wrong on the face of any Jedi.

Anakin knew the source of that Dark power. He had wondered why Veil had not tried to save the hostages and him, but now he knew. His fellow general had gone to the Temple, and was unleashing a fury that matched the emotions within his own heart.

Skywalker just hoped that the rest of the Jedi would not overreact about Delkatar. He smirked and returned to dealing with the bombs.

Padme was looking at him in a way that demanded answers, he soundlessly mouthed "later," and then returned his attention to the delicate work of disarming the bombs without using his physical limbs.

=RK=

Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

I rose on my shaky feet and looked around again. If I was so inclined this mess would make a great justification for something resembling Order 66. That way I could have rid the galaxy from most of the irrevocably brainwashed Jedi.

I had carefully removed the worst of the mental conditioning from my troopers during the weeks when my forces were being assembled. This was one of the reasons why my soldiers were ready to back me up to the hilt. But after dealing with the droids, only twenty four of the clones were still on their feet, and combat ready with five additional medics caring for the wounded.

I had arrived at the Temple with fifty people, excluding the pilots. Half of my men were lying dead or wounded. Death without purpose was something that I never found acceptable during my time as Darth Vael. For most Sith commanders, their troops were expendable resources. That was a school of thought that I had never subscribed to, and as a result the soldiers under my command tended to have much better morale. I smiled proudly at my men. They were professionals, and knew that if the Jedi decided to do something stupid, and attack us, there was not much that they could do. There was infantry on the ground, and two gunships floating protectively over my head. If the Jedi decided to be violent, they would be met in kind. Knowing my men, there were heavy reinforcements on the way as well.

I shook my head. With the Senate taken hostage by CIS agents, I did not have time to deal with the Jedi's insecurities. They were justified, I'll grant you that. I wanted the Order in its current state dismantled, ensuring that the fanatics amongst the Jedi were not free to cause problems with my future plans, but that did not mean that I was too keen on Sidious going through with Order 66. There were some good people in the organization who I would prefer to be reformed under the ancient Jedi creed, or as Sith, under my teachings and not under the dogma from any of the sects that existed in the Empire. Or even worse, this Rule of Two abomination.

I swayed with exhaustion and one of the nearby clones grabbed my left arm to help keep me upright.

"Thank you, corporal." I muttered quietly.

I gathered some of the ambient Force energy drowning the Temple, and used it to rejuvenate myself a bit. It did not make me even close to one hundred percent but it took the edge off the weakness I was feeling. I stretched and heard my bones creaking. I needed to rest, damn it! But, there was no use in hoping for something I knew I would not receive any time soon.

I strode slowly towards the arguing Jedi. At the moment, I was in charge of the whole clusterfuck on Coruscant, but I was out of communication with either ships in orbit or the forces investing the Senate for the last fifteen minutes or so. I prayed that the building was still standing, or if it had fallen I prayed Palpatine had died with it. I may have missed his death while preoccupied... Nah. Neither I or the galaxy were that lucky.

I heard argument as I moved closer. "Delkatar has not made a single action against the Jedi! He came here, risking his life to help us while he probably should have been dealing with the situation at the Senate! And how do you want to repay him for his assistance?!" Ahsoka Tano was almost foaming at the mouth. Mace Windu was glaring at Tano as if he were tempted to activate his lightsaber.

"Ahem." I cleared my throat loudly. I had to keep myself from smiling when Windu almost jumped. I regretted that I was not able to pay closer attention to the show, and hoped that my soldiers had the cameras in their helmets up and running.

Yoda, who looked much older then the last time I spoke with him, nodded in my direction. If his expression was anything to go by, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order was becoming tired of the arguments.

"Master Yoda, Ahsoka. I am glad you are fine, considering the circumstances." I pointedly excluded Windu.

"Fine, we are not. But your sentiment, appreciated, it is." said Yoda.

"Its time to end this farce!" hissed Mace. "The Sith are a forbidden organization in the Republic. In the name of the Galactic Senate you are under arrest!" he declared grandly.

I snorted. "Two points. First, prove it. I am willing to bet that I do not qualify as a "Sith" under Republic law. I was a member of an organization of the same name – nearly four thousand years ago. And second, I am not a Republic citizen. I have not broken any Republic law, Jedi. Third! At the moment I am the GAR commander responsible for all Republic forces on Coruscant until we can contact High Command or the Chancellor. Under the circumstances, first it should be confirmed that Palpatine is not acting under duress before he could countermand my authority. So, choose your next words very carefully. You have no reason to arrest me besides your fears. I have not done a single thing against either the GAR or the Republic." I declared calmly.

If anyone is wondering I did check the Republic laws concerning me and the Sith in general. In the last thousand years some very interesting loopholes were added by newer laws...

Ironically, the Jedi were the ones who granted me the greatest boon possible as far as legal protection goes: the fact that I stated in front of their Grandmaster that I was a Sith, and he did not order my arrest. With that information in hand, any half competent Councilor could argue that what I thought to be Sith, and what I considered myself was nothing like the monsters of old with which I only shared a name...

The fun part was that if the matters ever reached court, Palpy would gleefully support me in an attempt to hamstring the Jedi. After all, I stood as an example for a staunch defender of the Republic, a successful and popular general! All the while, the Jedi were unable to keep in custody the engineer behind the CIS, a former Jedi to booth. Lawyers and politicians are such fun people! To a Sith.

"Let's leave the courts to decide, Sith," Windu spat.

I could see that he prayed for me to resist. That would permit him to attack me in my weakened state. As we all know history is written by the victors. With me (and my clone troopers) out of the picture, the Jedi would be free to spin whatever outlandish story they wanted.

"You can't just arrest him! Delkatar has done nothing wrong!" protested Ahsoka.

"Padawan Tano! Be silent! One more word and I'll see you expelled!"

The Togruta teenager glared daggers at him. She looked between me and the Vaapad master.

"Hasty such an action is, Master Windu." said Yoda in an attempt to defuse the situation.

Our argument was put on hold when six LAATs flew through the remains of the shattered main doors. The gunships flew over us and from them rappelled scores of heavily armed clone troopers.

A Jedi Master I knew jumped from the leading troop transport and hurried to join us. I could feel the turbulent emotions of the newcomer. I was sure the reason for that was one of my contingency plans in place just in case some of the Jedi decided to make fools from themselves. Windu was a case in point.

The Jedi who surrounded my troopers and I looked uneasy when the clones who just arrived moved to face them.

Yoda looked around with a sad expression on his face while Windu gave me a satisfied smirk.

"Now, you all see the truth!" the Vaapad master pointed at the clones.

"The Sith is about to show his true colors!"

I shook my head in exasperation. I knew that Windu despised me for what I was ever since he laid his eyes upon me but this was bloody madness! He was about to screw over the Jedi in a such a way that even Sidious would be envious. You see, the LAATs which brought me to the Temple had various cameras. What was happening here was streamed live to the various GAR commands on Coruscant which were not jammed, as well as to the fleet in orbit...

=RK=

Part 3

Republic Cruiser Requiem, High orbit over Coruscant

Commodore Pellaeon, who under orders from General Veil, had assumed command over all navy forces over the capital, watched with trepidation the live feed from the Jedi Temple. The revelation about what his commander truly was not as much a shock as one might expect. Gilad was not blind. While it was easy to see that Veil was a Force user, he was nothing like any of the Jedi the officer knew or imagined them to be.

When Pellaeon saw the Jedi Temple under attack he was torn. Oh, the Order members had great reputation, one they managed to keep mostly intact for nearly a thousand years. However for most people the Jedi were just a myth. Even with present day speed of travel, the explored galaxy was enormous. It was not surprising that only a very small percentage of the population had actually met a Jedi or seen them in action. That was all changing with the onset of this war.

Truth to be told, as a kid Pellaeon had admired the Jedi and the tales about their incredible achievements, something that had not really changed as he grew up. But then the war started and the Jedi were immediately given the ranks of generals and commanders, without any military training!

As a ship's captain, Gilad was privy to a lot of confidential information. Thanks to his lover, who was an RI agent, he knew even more. Both GAR internal After Action Reports and the rumor mill painted a grim picture. While as warriors, the Jedi were superb (excelling in relatively small battles where they could have a great impact on an individual tactical level), the performance of most of them as commanders was sorely lacking. The list of bloody ground battles and shattered ships thanks to their mistakes was horrendous. The fact that most Jedi now outranked men and women with decades of actual experience in the army and navy just acted as an additional point of friction.

Gilad shook his head. This whole war was dragging the Jedi Order through the mud, and they couldn't even realize it! There were times he wondered if most of the Jedi understood the rest of the galaxy. While his respect for the Jedi as individuals was still there, that of the Order as an organization had gone down the drains when the Jedi Council had taken the offered command position for the Jedi with barely a notice and sent unprepared boys and girls to lead troops in battle. He did not blame too much the Jedi who fought and died with their soldiers, but their leaders who had put everyone in such a position without a second thought.

The Commodore stared grimly at the holo-display showing the live feed from the Temple. Veil, who for some reason had healed the Chiss woman he had impaled with his lightsaber, rose up swaying and one of the clones helped steady him. Pellaeon watched grimly as Master Windu declared that he was placing the General under arrest. From the corners of his eyes he could see his aide and some of the clones working on the bridge wincing. When GAR reinforcements arrived on the scene, Gilad and the crew who were watching felt relieved. The medics from the second flight of LAATs to arrive were already spreading through the former battleground and helping the wounded, while the clone troopers were taking defensive positions around their still standing brethren, ready to protect the General.

In the long term it did not matter how the situation was resolved. The Jedi had just taken a hit to their credibility that they would spend decades recovering from.

Right now, the Republic was in a gray area. With the Senate, the Chancellor and the GAR headquarters out of communication and presumed either destroyed or under duress, General Veil had taken charge and had a very good case for being the Acting Supreme Commander of all Republic forces. At the very least he was in command of everything in the capital system. Trying to arrest the General for what amounted to trumped up charges, during during such a crisis was madness. "Or treason." added a small voice in the back of Pellaeon's mind.

As far as the Commodore knew, Veil had not done a single thing against the interests of the Republic. Just the contrary, in fact – in a few skirmishes, the General had won great strategic victories for the GAR. More than the Jedi combined could boast so far.

He knew that the stunt pulled by Windu was not going to go well with the troops. It was obvious that the Jedi was banking on the revelation that Veil was a Sith to carry the day. However the Sith were were little more than a half-forgotten story told to scare children into behaving. Gilad was ready to bet anything that the General had done his homework and knew what he was talking about when he stated that he could not be considered a Sith under Republic law. That would be enough for a lot of people, especially when combined with Veil's record so far. To be fair, Dooku, the man who forged the CIS and was leading them until his capture, was a former Jedi turned Sith. Pellaeon found it deliciously ironic that another Sith was now on the side of the Republic to balance things. He only hoped that Dooku was still in custody: that bald woman Veil killed was supposed to be in prison too. Letting the Count escape would be another nail in the coffin of the Jedi's reputation.

The Commodore cursed quietly. They had more than enough problems to deal with without the Jedi making additional problems!

He glared at the screen where a close up of Windu's smug smile could be seen. Pellaeon hoped that the Jedi who had just arrived at the Temple could help cool down the explosive situation, but that was not something he could afford to count on.

"Comms, give me a line to the fleet. I want half of the reserve ground forces heading towards the Jedi temple yesterday. Those fools aren't taking the General without a fight! Make sure that the boys know not to start anything, but if the Jedi down there are foolish enough to start something we will finish it!" the Commodore declared.

The final straw was Windu's declaration that the Jedi would leave for the Senate to debate Veil's fate. Under the circumstances, that was madness! For all anyone knew the senators might be all dead already! Pellaeon was not going to allow one of the Republic's best generals, not to mention his Acting Commander in Chief, to rot in prison for months, or if they were really unlucky – years, until the senate managed to sort itself out, and be able to deal with the Jedi's accusations.

At least that was what he would say if anyone asked him. But there would be something else he would leave unsaid. Gilad knew that there were some Senators that were too close to comfort to the Jedi Council. If some of those survived it was likely that guilty or not, the General would finds himself in a tough spot without having done anything wrong.

It was a hard thing to admit, but the government he had sworn to protect had its flaws, some of which were pretty big. He would have had to be blind to not be aware of the rampant corruption within the Senate. Gilad knew that the Chancellor was doing his best to clean up the monumental mess but the man's efforts were often not enough. If he looked at it objectively, Pellaeon knew that the systems making the CIS often had legitimate grievances and reasons to secede. However that did not mean he agreed with the way they went about it.

Kriff it all! He hated being placed in position where he had to deal with politics!

Pellaeon nodded when he received reports that the Navy ships in orbit had acknowledged his orders and were executing them. Now he could only wait and see how the crisis on the ground was resolved.

=RK=

Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

Obi-Wan had felt the disturbance in the Force before his command ship exited Hyperspace near Coruscant. However the truth about what was happening was much worse than his greatest fears! GAR High Command attacked and silent. The senate (with most of the government in attendance) in enemy hands. The bases near that building attacked and under lock down and even the Jedi Temple under assault.

The Jedi General had wasted no time to act – he sent Cody with the bulk of the troops on the Negotiator to join the cordon forming around the Senate while he left to aid his fellow Jedi.

He was informed by Commodore Pellaeon, one of Veil's protegees, that the General had taken command of the situation and was already on his way to the Temple. That was a cause for a bit of relief, after all the general knew what he was doing, but it had lasted only until the LAATs with Kenobi's... acquaintance, reached the Temple and activated cameras relaying to all GAR units in the system what was happening.

To say that Obi-Wan was appalled by the destruction and the death toll he was seeing with his own eyes would be an understatement. Yet, the Jedi Master was glad that Delkatar arrived in time to save at least the two girls – Anakin's padawan, who just like her master was pursued actively by trouble, and was that Luminara's apprentice lying wounded on the ground?

While he did not approve of the blatant use of the Dark side powers displayed by Veil for, Obi-Wan's fears that the man was going to lose himself in the dark turned out to be unfounded. Delkatar even saved one of the women he fought after killing Ventress. He idly wondered what was that about Valley of the Jedi they all heard, but decided it could wait.

Thanks to the audio pick ups mounted on those two LAATs, Kenobi and all other people receiving the signal could hear what was being said in the Great Hall.

Soon things turned out for the worse. Windu had appeared and started to argue with both Yoda and Ahsoka Tano. It was inevitable, really. From the beginning, Obi-Wan knew that once the true identity of Veil was known to the rank and file of the Order, there would be hell to pay. Unfortunately, most Jedi were not as open minded as himself.

He knew that the Order was far from perfect but still believed that it was the best way to keep force sensitives from the corruption of the Dark side. Yet, now, after some long conversations with Veil, Kenobi's faith in his Order's teaching was wavering. It was hard to argue with Delkatar when Windu was showing for all to see some of the worst failings of the Jedi Order as an institution. That this display was made by one of the most respected Jedi Masters made it even worse.

Obi-Wan was praying that the gunships could travel even faster. He could see the clones who had arrived with Veil ready to resist the Jedi if they attempted to arrest their general. He glanced at the men in the troop compartment with him. Their helmets did not give any hint what they were going to do, but he doubted that they would stand against their brothers. Most likely the clones would follow the military regulations, and the troopers knew that Veil had assumed command of all GAR forces.

Kenobi prayed that he would be able to defuse the situation. Anything less and his actions would just add to the body count.

=RK=

The good news was that Obi-Wan arrived at the temple before the situation exploded in everyone's faces. He jumped from the hovering transport after ordering the medics he had brought to take care of the wounded. He frowned when he saw his clone troopers joining Veil's men and taking defensive positions. This had the potential to become very ugly. Kenobi did not know if his fellow Jedi were aware that everything was going live but considering what he felt from Windu and some of the men and women facing the clones he doubted that they would care anyway.

'How did we end like this?' wondered the Jedi Master.

Obi-Wan walked between Delkatar and Mace who were glaring at each other. Kenobi nodded respectfully to Yoda, and then turned to padawan Tano, ignoring Windu for the moment.

"Ahsoka, I see you've learned how to get into all kind of trouble from my former apprentice. I should have a talk with that boy about what he is teaching you." he said with a straight face, looking at her wounded right hand.

"Ah, that. Its just a scratch, Master Kenobi!" exclaimed the young Togruta.

"Good to hear it. What about the shouting match you are having with two council members?"

Ahsoka looked uneasy for a moment but then her azure eyes blazed with determination, and she stood straighter.

"Master Windu is being entirely unreasonable!" she declared with conviction ringing in her voice.

"Is he, now?" muttered Obi-Wan and turned his gaze towards the fuming Vaapad master.

Meanwhile Yoda was watching the antics of the younger Jedi with an amused smirk on his face. He could feel the tension bleeding out of the Jedi present in the great hall. Only Windu was refusing to let go of his anger. That was not good for so many reasons...

"Master Windu, I missed most of the excitement. Please enlighten me, what is going on? We all have more important issues to deal with! Should I remind you that, the Senate is under enemy control, and the Senators are hostages?!"

"Not to mention that the confusion of these attacks could give the CIS navy opportunity to strike targets that were previously out of their reach. The GAR reaction speed is crippled until we can clean up the mess on Coruscant." added Veil.

Kenobi nodded in agreement. The Separatists would be fools not to capitalize on the Republics confusion, but before such things could be dealt with, the immediate crisis had to be averted.

Windu pointed an accusing finger at Delkatar, who rolled his eyes at the Jedi.

"He is the greatest threat to both the Jedi Order and the Republic I can see!" stated Mace.

"This madness, end now, it must!" grumbled Yoda.

Some time during the argument he had summoned his crooked cane and now used it to strike Windu in the shins. The look on the Jedi Master's face was priceless.

"Stand down, you will, Master Windu!" the irritation the Grandmaster felt towards his much younger colleague was plain to see. "The future shrouded in darkness is. Torn asunder by paranoia we must not be! Master Windu! Suspended your position it is! The Jedi Council your actions will judge!" Yoda's tone of voice brook no argument.

The Vaapad master glared at the tiny Jedi but managed to reign in his fury.

"He is a Sith! Our ancient enemy! How long must we wait for him to act against us?" pleaded Windu.

"Has Veil done anything to warrant such animosity, Master Windu?" asked Kenobi with exasperation in his voice.

"The Confederacy and the Sith leading it, our enemies are. Delkatar Veil that man is not. Today too much death we saw. More bloodshed your actions would have caused, Master Windu," Yoda pointed his cane Delkatar's way. "Shown hostility towards the Jedi, he has not."

The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order glared at Mace. "Master Windu! When the current crisis over is, explain your actions to us all you will!"

Obi-Wan allowed himself to relax a bit for the first time since he first sensed the disturbance in the Force that heralded the attacks on Coruscant. He could sense the same being true for both Jedi and clones. Even the aura of danger surrounding Veil had subdued a bit. That had been much too close for comfort.

Kenobi knew that the consequences of Windu's stunt would be grave, though he was mentally thanking the Force that the worse did not come to pass.

"Master Yoda, I hope that at least Dooku remains in custody?" Veil asked almost innocently but Obi-Wan could see that the question was anything but.

Yoda looked at Mace Windu with interest and soon everyone who was not too busy tending to the wounded turned their heads towards the Jedi Master who looked uncomfortable with the attention. Obi-Wan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.