"Ah, my apprentice, I was expecting you.I have a couple tasks for you to fulfill before I address the Senate. "
Anakin Skywalker stepped through the doors to the Chancellor's office, guarded by two purple-blue Senate Commandos , and strolled into the room. Stopping in front of the Chancellor's desk, he took a knee in front of his new master. The waning sunlight filtered in through the windows, shedding a bloody orange hue on Palpatine's desk. The Chancellor sneered as he rose from his desk and made his way over to the Jedi Knight, coming to a stop right in front of his apprentice.
"Rise, Lord Vader, the time has come for you to prove yourself. Henceforth, no one shall stand in our way. You and I will have finally fulfilled our desires."
"As you wish, my master." Anakin rose his feet and wrapped his navy blue cloak around himself.
"Good." Palpatine cackled. "Go forth and commit the deeds, but do not fail me. Good luck, my apprentice."
As the fallen Jedi turned to exit Palpatine's chambers , he know only one thing. Tonight, Anakin Skywalker would fall and Darth Vader will rise out of the ashes. The things he'd do for love.
---
"Sir! The 501st reporting for duty, what are your orders?"
On the landing pad across the road from the Jedi Temple and the Chancellor's office, Anakin Skywalker watched as the clones disembarked from the Benevolence, a massive Republic cruiser. The draft from the LAAT gunships landing nearby sent his cloak flattering in the air. Commander Appo, the clone commander who was put in charge of the 501st after Rex's death, approached his Jedi General.Beside the new commander stood Jessie, his second in command, trailed by several squadrons of blue-striped phase-2 helmet clad clones.
"Follow me!" Anakin motioned for the clones to follow his lead. "Make sure to leave no survivors. That's an order!"
"Yes ,sir!" All the clones shouted in unison.
As they began their march toward the Jedi Temple, Anakin Skywalker began to reflect on what was about to go down. He had abandoned his mother back on Tatooine so he could accompany the Jedi master and apprentice duo Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant so they can train him to become a Jedi. First, he had ended up losing Qui-Gon, who felt like the father he had never had. His mother's death followed a decade later, altering his resolve permanently. It wasn't even a standard Galactic year ago when his apprentice had left order after being framed for a bombing. The Jedi didn't even step in to help one of their own. To rub salt into Skywalker's wounds, he was even denied a spot on the Council as a master!
"Sir?"
Appo's voice brought Anakin back to the real world.
"What do we do about the sentries stationed outside the entrance?"
Anakin glanced up the temple ahead, outlined like a castle keep in the navy blue evening sky, to see two Jedi Temple Sentries, in their silver and gold striped masks, standing beside the entrance. The bright light emanating from inside the temple failed to conceal their sharp colors.
"Leave them to me. Once we climb those stairs, you go into the temple and blast the occupants. Leave no one alive! "
"Copy that, sir!" Appo responded.
Anakin spent the rest of the march to their destination brooding about everything that had happened to him. He knew he had turned on his former Jedi brethren, but they had done nothing for him, especially to help him prevent the anticipated death of Padme and their unborn child. The undoing of the Jedi had come the moment they had tried to assassinate Palpatine once they learned that he was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The least they could have done was to arrest him and give him a fair trial. Wasn't that the Jedi way after all?
All of the things that had transpired lately against it me...why? It's unfair! The Jedi will pay for their treachery.
As they began the march up the stairs of the temple, their footsteps echoing across the hollow ground, Anakin felt the hate rise up inside him like the evening wind as the familiar place that was responsible for his pain came up on him, gradually coming closer. The bright yellow lights, as bright as the city lights, nearly blinded him as he came upon the entrance of his former home. Seeing a familiar face, the Sentinels didn't react so this made the job easier.
"Go!"
Anakin ignited his saber and lunged at the nearest guard as blaster fire tore through the night.
---
"These Jedi murderers left me scarred, left me deformed, but they could not scar my dignity! They could not deform my resolve! The remaining traitors will be hunted down, rooted out wherever they may hide , and be brought to justice, dead or alive!"
Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan made his way over to the podium where fellow senator Padme Amidala was seated. Ignoring the bright lights shining red on the metallic blue and silver senate podiums, Senator Organa took a seat beside the senator of Naboo as Palpatine addressed the Senate.
"What is happening?" The Senator asked, having just escaped from the clutches of the 501st at the Jedi Temple. He had found it hard to believe Commander Appo's assertion that the Jedi had rebelled against the Republic when he had witnessed several clones gun down a Jedi apprentice in cold blood. Something wasn't adding up.
Senator Amidala turned to face him. "The Chancellor's been elaborating on the plot by the Jedi to overthrow the Senate."
Organa could see the expression on the young senator's face that mirrored his own. An expression of bafflement, disbelief, and suspicion. As the Chancellor continued his speech, Bail Organa could only watch in anticipation to see where this led.
" This has been the most trying of times, but we have passed the test. The war is over! The Separatists have been utterly defeated, and the Republic will stand. United! United and free! The Jedi Rebellion was our final test—it was the last gasp of the forces of darkness! Now we have left that darkness behind us forever and a new day has begun! It is morning in the Republic!"
Bail Organa could only watch on as the rest of the Senate listened intently to the Chancellor's speech.
"Never again will we be divided! Never again will sector turn against sector, planet turn against planet, sibling turn against sibling. We are one nation, indivisible!To ensure that we will always stand together, that we will always speak with a single voice and act with a single hand, the Republic must change. We must evolve. We must grow. We have become an empire in fact; let us become an Empire in name as well! We are the first Galactic Empire!"
What is going on? The Senator wondered, feeling anxiety claw at his insides like a rancor. What does he mean by that? Is the Republic ceasing to exist?
"We are an Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body! We are an Empire that will never return to the political maneuvering and corruption that have wounded us so deeply; we are an Empire that will be directed by a single sovereign, chosen for life! We are an Empire ruled by the majority! An Empire ruled by a new Constitution! An Empire of laws, not of politicians! An Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! We are an Empire that will stand ten thousand years!"
Surely, most of the Senators won't fall for that, will they?
"We will celebrate the anniversary of this day as Empire Day. For the sake of our children. For our children's children! For the next ten thousand years! Safety! Security! Justice and peace!"
As the Senate burst into thunderous clapping, Bail Organa's worst fears had come true. With an ashen expression, he shared a glance with Padme, who seemed to harbor the same thoughts as him.
"So this is how Liberty dies, with thunderous applause."
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For this chapter, we decide to go to Anakin's point of view for Operation Knightfall. We will return to Obi-Wan and Co. shortly. Happy Early Star Wars Day to all of you! May the Fourth be with you always!
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