Master: a sw ff || Book I

Chapter Eleven

Later that afternoon, I meet Mace and Plo-Koon near the docking bay of the Tower. It gets dark a lot quicker here than up nearer the top levels, like the one or two hundreds.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Plo-Koon asks me.

"Yes, I'm sure," I reply.

He nods in acknowledgement.

"Which route did you take last time?" Mace says, as we start walking up the ramp to the ship.

"I just took the elevator, and landed on ground 1. I didn't want to attract uninvited attention." I respond.

"I can see why." he replies. "Please, take a seat."

I sit down on the bench inside the airship opposite the other two.

The trip is fairly short, but it's awkward, since we don't speak. The memory of the hologram earlier is still in the front of our minds. Plo-Koon instructs us to land only three floors below the Chancellor's apartment and office. My breathing has escalated into quite a pace, and my palms are covered with a damp sheen of sweat.

"Relax, you're sweating." I almost hear Obi-Wan's voice beside me. Relax. This whole operation is for him. To get a sort of revenge. Revenge for his murder. I inhale deeply.

The doors are getting closer, and I can sense that he is behind them. I step back a few paces, to let Mace and Plo-Koon go first. They swing open the doors, both holding their lightsabers. I unhook mine, but keep it hidden under the long sleeve of my cloak.

"Ah, the Jedi have arrived," Palpatine turns his chair around, and he keeps a pleasantly surprised look on his face.

"You are under arrest, Chancellor." Plo-Koon's voice turns sour.

"Or should we say, Darth Sidious?" Mace finishes.

"Any would please me. Oh, Anakin, I didn't see you there. Have you come to join your Master in the afterlife?"

I glare at him and turn on my lightsaber after dropping my cloak.

"To scared to answer now?" Palpatine stands up and slides a second lightsaber out of his sleeve and ignites it.

"Never." I spit.

"Good. Jedi don't get scared, do they? Apart from Obi-Wan, of course." he swings his lightsaber upwards.

"Jedi do get scared. Being scared is not a flaw," Mace says, his own purple blade humming with energy.

"Anyone in their right mind would be scared of a sith lord," Plo-Koon frowns at Palpatine.

Darth Sidious throws himself at us, and I immediately move into a defensive position. Both Mace and Plo-Koon slice at him, as he swings his red saber around in a circle. I can see by the fraction of a second more that he takes to move it, he is not used to this lightsaber, compared to the other one he has, that is with Master Yoda. I swipe my blue blade in the middle of his spinning red one. They clash and sparks fly out in every direction. Palpatine glares at me, and I return the expression.

"You can't win this fight." I say, barely controlled anger dripping from my words.

"I can, but you would never have tried to if you knew what I could do to you." he says.

"I know what you can do!" I cry.

Plo-Koon distracts Palpatine from me, and then Mace appears at my side. I glance at him, his purple lightsaber lighting up the deep frown on his face. I run back towards Palpatine to help Plo-Koon, and he drops his lightsaber.

Sidious whips around and, with the speed of sound, shoots a burst of force lightning at my left shoulder from his fingertips. The intensity of it makes me stumble backwards slightly, and I let out a short but anguished yell, and manage to pull up my lightsaber to block any more of the force lightning that could be coming my way. A few sparks touch me, and I look up to see Mace and Plo-Koon crossing their lightsabers around Palpatine's neck.

"Don't try that trick again." Plo-Koon says menacingly.

"You can't kill me, it's not the Jedi way." Sidious' voice is still silken, but slightly less so.

"A Jedi kills if they must." Mace growls.

"Anakin tried that on me a few months ago." he pauses. "When he killed Count Dooku in cold blood."

I stare at them, waiting for the accusations. "...He told me to. I didn't want to," I say quietly.

"You do not have to defend yourself, Master Skywalker." Mace looks at me.

"As for you, Sidious, you are coming with us to be sentenced. Anakin, go and see Master Yoda yourself, and get your shoulder looked at." Plo-Koon says sympathetically.

I nod and pick up his second lightsaber and my cloak, and start walking to the doors.

~~~

After going to the med-centre to get my shoulder seen too, I continue to Master Yoda's rooms on the third floor of the Jedi Tower. The scents and softly glowing lamps always makes his rooms a serene and calming place to be. The plants and trailing leaves hanging in pots make it so well naturally ventilated that there isn't a need for a vent, unlike in most of the other rooms. The curtains are drawn across the tall windows, and I knock on a wooden pillar, since the door was left ajar.

"Ah, Master Skywalker, returned, you have." his voice comes from behind a leather chair.
I follow his voice and see him sitting on the floor, nursing tiny bright green saplings.

"Please, have a seat, if you will." I dip my head and sit down on the leather chair. "Well, the arrest did go, yes?"

"It did. Master Windu and Plo-Koon are taking him to be sentenced." I reply.

"Good, that is."

"Sidious had another lightsaber, so I took it." I say, getting it out and offering it to him.

"Thank you, I do. For one to have two lightsabers, is very unusual, so this will be all." he takes it.

"Yes, it is."

"His other lightsaber, has no use it does for me." Yoda says, looking directly at me and getting up from the tray of plants. "Use will you make of it?"

I raise my eyebrows slightly. "I mean no disrespect Master, but why would I want a lightsaber that has killed?" '...My brother.' I add silently.

"Hm, of disrespect, none is taken. Do not know why I asked, apologies mine." Yoda replies.
I dip my head. "Thank you."

"A stirring in the force, I have felt, of a new presence." he says mysteriously. "Hope, I do, that it visits you soon."

~~~

I decide to leave the tower after a few more minutes and instead go straight to the apartment to see Padmé. I think over what Yoda told me. A stirring in the force? Of a new presence? Could that mean...? I can't get my hopes up. Fairly soon, it gets dark, and I try to get there quicker.

I try the door, and it's unlocked. I look around to see where Padmé is. I can't see her.

"Padmé?" I call. "I'm back,"

"Ah, Master Anakin, you're back." Threepio appears from behind the door to his and Artoo's room.

"Hello Threepio," I say to him. "Do you know where Padmé is?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." he replies.

"Where?" a hint of panic creeps into my voice.

"She has gone to the med-centre."

I swallow. "M.. med-centre? Why..?"

~~~
A/N: aaaa we are almost there! Almost at the end! Please leave a comment or vote!