He waited some more.
"Emergency Code Nine Thirteen. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Repeat: Emergency Code Nine Thirteen. Are there any Jedi outthere?"
He waited. His heart thumped heavily. "Any Jedi, please respond. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi declaring a Nine Thirteen Emergency."
...
He tried to ignore the small, still voice inside his head that whispered he might just be the only one out here.
He might just be the only one, period.
He started punching coordinates for a single jump that would bring him close enough to pick up a signal directly from
Coruscant when a burst of fuzz came over his comlink.
A quick glance confirmed the frequency: a Jedi channel."Please repeat," Obi-Wan said. "I'm locking onto your signal. Please repeat."
The fuzz became a spray of blue laser, which gradually resolved into a fuzzy figure of a tall, slim human with dark hair and an elegant goatee. "Master Kenobi? Are you all right? Have you been wounded?"
"Senator Organa!" Obi-Wan exclaimed with profound relief. "No, I'm not wounded—but I'm certainly not all right. I need help. My clones turned on me."
"At least Master isn't all alone...", Anakin uttered in a jaded tone, relieved that Obi-Wan would be all right.
"There have been ambushes all over the galaxy." Obi-Wan lowered his head, offering a silent wish to the
Force that the victims might find peace within it.
"Have you had contact with any other survivors?"
"Only one," the Alderaanian Senator said grimly. "Lock onto my coordinates. He's waiting for you."
...
Maul's eyes snapped open as the ray shields to his holding cell opened with a hiss. Two clone troopers stepped through with blasters raised. Trapped inside his sarcophagus prison and held in place by heavy duty restraints, he could do nothing but watch as one of the clones unlocked his coffin and prepared to finish him off.
But before the Clones could execute their captive, Ahsoka intervened. Force pushing one of the clones into a wall hard enough to knock him unconscious, she drew one of her lightsabers and sliced the other's blaster in half when he spun around.
Then with a wave of her hand, she slammed the clone into the ceiling, crushing him against it with the force until he blacked out. Ahsoka glared at Maul as she let the clone fall to the ground, levelling her weapon at Maul's throat.
"Don't make me regret this." Ahsoka snarled at the Sith before hitting the release on Maul's restraints, freeing the mad man.
"You've… you've survived." Maul coughed out as he stumbled out of the sarcophagus prison and fought to catch his breath.
"Is this your doing? Choose your words carefully." Ahsoka held the lightsaber to Maul's throat again and demanded answers.
"No, no it was not my doing. I don't know what has occurred. But surely you have felt it. The voices crying out. The death." Maul admitted freely and Ahsoka looked away, not wanting to think about the force vision that heralded this madness.
"He too have sensed it?", Caleb pointed out curiously.
"A tremor in the Force, Sidious has caused", Yoda said to the Padawan.
"The clones turned against me. Even Rex. I don't know why, they just suddenly… weren't themselves." She said before turning back to the door and looking for any hostile reinforcements.
"Brilliant… brilliant!" Maul began laughing to himself as he pieced things together.
Maul's laughter caused the Jedi to frown, as if his laugh mocked them for their ignorance of what Sidious was doing.
"I was not privy to my master's plan, but now… now I see it. He turned the Jedi's own army against them." Maul rose and dusted himself off, despite their falling out, he could still appreciate Sidious' masterstroke.
"You have done the right thing by coming to me, only together can we survive this. Now if you'll follow my lead-" Maul shut up when the glowing sapphire blade stopped just short of his neck.
"There is no chance that I am working with Maul", Ahsoka reinforced her future's decision.
"You don't understand, I'm not here to team up with you. I need a diversion, and you're it. Now go cause some chaos, it's what you're good at." Ahsoka shot down the idea immediately and began walking away.
"Care to give me a fighting chance?" Maul asked, raising his empty hands to draw attention to the fact he was still unarmed.
"I'm not rooting for you. Now get going." Ahsoka ordered. Maul frowned in displeasure before turning on his heel and leaving.
"Please tell me that this isn't a decision that I will regret later", Ahsoka asked the audience.
"They're… not going to work together to survive? I mean they're on a ship where everyone is trying to kill the both of them, surely they can work together?" Caleb muttered.
"Padawan, if there is one thing that you learn about a Sith, is that betrayal is part of their culture", Mace told him.
...
"Sir, we've finished our sweep of the detention level. The prisoner has escaped. No sign of Tano or Maul." A clone patrol reported to Rex.
"Destroy the escape pods. Increase security on the hangar decks." Rex took the bad news in stride and ordered the only ways off the ship locked down.
"Right away sir!"
"Destroy the escape pods? That's a bit much isn't it? What happens if there's an emergency?" Padme asked.
"Then they all die together." Mace said.
"…They would go that far just to kill two people?" Kit Fisto muttered.
"In Sidious' point of view then yes. The clones were made to be expendable soldiers who would do anything to see his plan a success. They were created to be sacrificial pawns to fulfill that end goal.", Mace spoke out his own assumptions that left many inside the Council chamber felt sick
"It's a despicable concept." Plo Koon growled.
Rex only clenched his fist in anger when thinking about the Chancellor, as did Anakin.
...
At the night in Coruscant, a Jedi Starfighter landed onto an apartment's landing bay. Emerging from it was Anakin Skywalker, who was met by Padme who embraced him in a rush.
Anakin closed his eyes and shook his head, recalling the lengths he went into just as he could protect her, not wanting to imagine how disgusted would she have been now knowing she was pregnant.
And if Obi-Wan hid Luke from the monster that was his father, then he made the right choice for the boy.
"Are you all right? I heard there was an attack on the Jedi temple.", Padme urgently asked her husband. "You could see the smoke from here."
"I'm fine", Anakin assured her. "I came to see if you and the baby are safe"
"What's happening?", she asked him.
Anakin paused for a moment before be replied. "The Jedi have tried to overthrow the Republic."
Padme couldn't register what he had just said. "I can't believe that."
"I saw Master Windu attempt to assassinate the Chancellor myself"
Mace sighed to himself, knowing better that he should not have rushed towards Palpatine that gave him the precedent to declare the Jedi as traitors.
"And he would have done it if I didn't do anything...", Anakin uttered to himself.
"What are you gonna do?"
"I will not betray the Republic", Anakin firmly said. "My loyalties lie with the chancellor... and with the senate and with you"
"I would not have traded my own friends for a Sith Lord...", Anakin said in denial.
"What about Obi-Wan?"
"I don't know. Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that he's remained loyal to the chancellor."
"And if he is not?", Depa quipped in unease.
"Then he will be forced to dispose Master Kenobi", Mace answered his former apprentice.
Both the Master and apprentice shot down the mere thought of that ever happening, not after all that they had went through.
"Anakin, I'm afraid", Padme admitted. She shook her head helplessly, and a pair of tears spilled from her eyes
He touched them with his mechanical hand; the fingertips of his black glove glistened in the dawn.
Two liquid gems, indescribably precious—because they were his. He had earned them. As he had earned her; as he had earned the child she bore. He had paid for them with innocent blood.
"Have faith, my love. Everything will soon be set right. The Chancellor has given me a very important mission. The separatists have gathered on the Mustafar system. I'm going there to end this war", he declared. "This won't take long. Wait for me."
Fresh tears streamed onto her ivory cheeks, and she threw herself into his arms. "Always, Anakin. Forever."
He smiled down on her. "You say that like I'm already gone."
I already am..., Anakin thought for his dark future, a few tears leaving his eyes. Regret and self-loathing consumed him as he began lightly sob, as did Padme for everything that they gave up for their love.
"Wait for me until I return", he told her as he began to make his way back to his starfighter. "Things will be different. I promise. Please, wait for me."
Anakin's starfighter rose to life as it flew away from the apartment complex, leaving Padme to wipe her tears alone.
Things will never be the same after that..., Padme regretfully thought, knowing the pain that lies ahead.
...
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...
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