| abstract | - When he came to the Jedi Temple, Anakin was met by the last thing in the universe he wanted to see: C-3PO. “Master Anakin! Master Anakin!” Threepio trilled. “I have something very important to tell—” Anakin shoved the droid so hard out of his way that Threepio almost fell over. “Well, how rude!” Threepio said. “Still, it is very important that I talk to him.” The droid followed the running Jedi. Padmé felt Anakin near her like an approaching storm, it did not take her long to find him but when she did Artoo and Threepio barred her way. “Threepio, please!” she said, trying to get past him. “I need to talk to Anakin!” “So do we, Miss Padmé,” Threepio told her. “Artoo found something from the transmissions we got from the Invisible Hand that is quite surprising.” “Can’t this wait?” Padmé asked impatiently. “It’s about Chancellor Palpatine,” Threepio said. Padmé stopped and for the first time looked at him seriously. “What did you say?” “We found a transmission between him and General Grievous,” Threepio told her. “But that’s…that’s impossible,” Padmé stammered. “I thought so as well,” Threepio agreed. “But Artoo insists that he has verified the data at least three times and the voiceprints match exactly.” “Play it,” Padmé said. Artoo complied readily, projecting a small hologram onto the floor. It showed a humanoid figure in a hooded robe with the cowl pulled low to hide all but the mouth and nose. “You must proceed with the attack now, General,” said the hologram. “Make as much destruction as you want, but the Supreme Chancellor must be taken alive. Count Dooku will then arrive with further orders.” The hologram ended and Padmé was slowly coming to terms with what she had heard. She knew that voice, she had heard it before and not just because it was Chancellor Palpatine. Padmé cast her mind back to the conference room on Imbroglio…Renust Nju talking to someone called…Sidious! Did this mean that he had orchestrated the entire war from the very beginning? Did this mean…? No, she put such questions firmly out of her mind, there was a time to consider this but now she had to decide what she had to do with the information she had. Then she had an idea. “Threepio, could you send this very quickly to Danta Pela or Senator Organa?” she asked. “I’m not sure if—” But Artoo beeping excitedly caused him to stop. “Artoo says he can if we can get him to a computer outlet.” “There's one near by,” Padmé said, but she left them without another word. She had to find Anakin. Sidious knew that it would only be a matter of time before Anakin told someone about him. It would not be long before he would see a Jedi Master, or four, in his office demanding his arrest. Yet fortunately he had calculated for this. He placed a call to a certain Jedi Master. After that, he sent a communication to Mustafar with a single order: deactivate all droids. The next part of the operation, the part that would see the death of all Jedi, would wait until he had the Chosen One firmly in his grasp. Anakin was in one of the meditation rooms, sitting on a low stool and staring at the wall. He looked up vaguely when she entered. Those same raw eyes she had seen after he had had the vision peered back at her. Where has he been? Padmé thought, does he know already? “Anakin?” Padmé knew she had to proceed very carefully here. “Is there something wrong?” “I…” Anakin put his head in his hands, when he looked up Padmé noticed the hot tears that streaked his face. “I was just with the Chancellor.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “And he just revealed to me a terrible truth.” “That's he’s a Sith Lord?” Padmé asked. Anakin gaped. “How did you know?” “It doesn’t matter,” Padmé said quickly. “We need to tell Master Windu.” “NO!” Anakin was on his feet and grabbed her arm firmly. “Anakin! Let go of me!” She struggled with his grip, when had she seen him like this? With a shudder she remembered, back on the Invisible Hand when he told her they had to kill Dooku. “I can’t let you,” he told her. “If you tell him, they will kill him!” “But he’s a Sith Lord!” Padmé exploded. “He’s been leading you on all this time, pretending to be your friend and planning…” “To make me his apprentice,” Anakin replied. Now it was Padmé’s turn to stare. “He…did what?” “He said that if I joined him we could be together,” Anakin said. “Think about that, we wouldn’t have the Jedi, or the Order or anything. We could just be ourselves.” “And at what price?” Padmé finally managed to shake off his grip. “Anakin, I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I'm going to tell Master Windu.” “No!” Anakin tried to stop her, but she was already gone. When Obi-Wan made his way back to the battle, Cody was waiting for him. With a smile he handed the Jedi his lightsaber. “Thought you might want this back, boss,” the clone said. “Thanks,” Obi-Wan replied, clipping it to his belt. “No word of this to Anakin, right?” “I won’t if you won’t,” Cody grinned. “Did you get finally Grievous to surrender?” “No, his body is probably still smoking where I left him,” Obi-Wan told him. “Why do you ask?” “Didn’t you notice, boss?” Cody gestured around him, for the first time Obi-Wan noticed the piles of droids around them. He had assumed that was the remnants of the battle, but at closer inspection he saw that some of them had not even been touched by blasterfire. Some of them were just…lying there. “You managed to find the control station to deactivate the droids?” he asked Cody. “Nope,” the grinning Cody replied. “They just fell down by ‘emselves.” “But…this means…” Obi-Wan’s pleased but sceptical smile grew broader. The war was over! At long last and after five almost endless years it had ended, finally! He wished Anakin was here to share this moment with him. “Do we have much cleaning up to do around here?” he asked. “Not much,” Cody told. “Tion Medon has things well in hand.” “Well, maybe we can go home sooner than I thought,” Obi-Wan said. In his cell in the depths of the Jedi Temple, Dooku sat on a low bench. What little light there was came from the ceiling and this was protected by a thick layer of transparasteel. The former Jedi looked up as the door opened, as was expected he pressed his back against the wall and waited to be escorted for interrogation. Yet Renust Nju was there, and was alone. He held out Dooku’s lightsaber. “It’s time?” Dooku asked. “Yes,” Nju replied. “Wait a few minutes and I’ll deactivate the Force-shield.” Nju closed the door and Dooku smiled to himself. At last the Sith would emerge to take their rightful place in the galaxy. He and Nju would destroy the Jedi here while Sidious himself drew Skywalker over to their side. He could just taste their victory.
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