Chapter 84 - Their finest hour [2/2] (1/2)

=RK=

Part 7

Chancellor's suite

Senate building

Coruscant

Just one more step – that's all Mace needed. He was almost close enough to end it all. Windu could already taste his victory. All he needed to do was to take the last step and swing down.

The Jedi pushed through the Sith's desperate onslaught. Ice daggers stabbed into his back as lighting forks glanced off his armor. A cold wave passed through Mace. He could sense Sidious' Shatterpoint. Just a few more moments and he would uncover it.

It didn't mater. The Sith wasn't going to last that long.

Windu finally took the last step. For a split second he was blinded by a virtual wall of crackling lighting before the attack abruptly cut off and he swung down his blade. It took the Jedi a heartbeat to comprehend that the Sith had somehow produced a lightsaber and was holding the locked weapons a hair breath from his forehead.

Sidious used that small opening to regain the initiative. The blades became blurs that flashed when striking each other. Yet with every clash of the lightsabers, the Sith was forced a step back.

Mace's hands moved guidedby the Force. He feinted, and then locked blades with the Chancellor for a brief moment before using a supreme effort to overpower the old man and push his weapon away, leaving the Sith open. Windu's spirit soared when he saw the realization in Palpatine's eyes. The Sith attempted to jump back, though both knew it was going to be too late.

The Jedi swung his weapon aiming for a killing blow. Sidious raised his hands up in the last possible moment and they were enveloped by lighting. The Sith unleashed it into a wide ark in a last desperate bid to save himself, all the while jumping back.

Windu's purple blade went down a moment before a lighting bolt caught him in the left shoulder. The attack had enough power behind it to spin Mace in place and sent him falling on the ground.

He didn't care. Before the lighting struck, Windu saw his blade slicing clean through the Sith's forearms.

However, he cared very much when the floor lifted to meet his face and the world around him roared with the echo of an explosion. One quite powerful and close at that. The feeling of Jedi dying nearby came as an unpleasant confirmation that Mace was out of time. He had to finish the Sith now.

Windu got to his feet and looked at the Jedi in the room.

”I'll end it. Secure us a way out!” Mace shouted. He hoped that they were able to understand him, because if the ringing in his ears was anything to go by, they were all half deaf at best.

Mace's position – looking towards the Chancellor's private office, gave him an excellent view of a wave of fire and screaming metal coming from the outer part of the residence. It was almost immediately followed by blaster blots and couple of missiles that detonated almost immediately after flying through the door.

Only a last moment warning coming from the Force prompted Windu to avert his eyes and avoid being temporarily blinded.

The Chancellor was in a sorry state. He was cradled his ruined arms in front of his ċhėst and glaring balefully at everyone. Yet, the madman had the gall to smile at him.

”It ends now!” Windu snarled and stalked towards the Sith.

With every passing moment more explosions could be felt. More Jedi dying.

The Sith's lips moved, however Mace couldn't make up the words. All he knew, or really cared about right then and there was the fact that Sidious had to die for everything he caused.

The Jedi didn't consider, or really care that a cold current was flowing through him. He had surrendered to the Force. Became one with his Vaapad and now, he would be its instrument in bringing it closer to the prophesied balance.

Instead of feeling fear at his impending demise, Palpatine was shacking with laughter.

Windu scowled. No matter. He raised his lightsaber and prepared to finish it.

The Sith slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Mace grinned savagely.

This – his enemy being on the floor waiting for the killing blow. It few fitting.

Windu's lightsaber descended… and instead of cutting through the Sith, he was whirling around and parrying blaster bolts flying at his back. The first few shots went to the walls and ceiling, though then Mace sent the following barrage back at the fool who interrupted him.

The Jedi glared at a woman in scorched Mandalorian armor. She was using a wrist blaster to shoot at him while keeping two other Jedi at bay with a flamethrower built into her other arm-guard.

A surge of unrelenting fury rose within Mace. He didn't have time for this nonsense. The Sith behind him wold recover any moment now and attack him!

Windu raised a hand and channeled all the fury he was experienced through the Force without really thinking about what he was doing. The armored woman froze in place then she was lifted up by invisible grip. Mace's clawed fingers clutched into a tightly gripped fist. The Force obeyed with some reluctance and the woman's armor buckled then collapsed a bit around her ċhėst, breaking bones and driving them into her flesh.

Mace left her fall to the ground and turned to finish off the Sith. Hopefully the other Jedi would be capable enough to keep the enemies occupied for a few seconds.

”Fool!” Sidious cackled from the floor. ”Do you think you just won?”

At least now Mace could hear again, though it wasn't as if the Sith could say something worth listening to. Yet, Windu found himself compelled to answer.

”Yes. I really do.”

Mace used the Force to raise up Sidious and then slammed his lightsaber in the Sith's gut.

”I might have lost…” Sidious hissed. ”You haven't won. The Dark Side has its due.”

Windu sneered. No matter what happens now, the Sith were done. He was convinced of it. There was no way that Veil would cold be more powerful than this monster and Sidious was done for.

”Can you feel it, Jedi?” The wheezed in a mocking tone. ”All you did is ensure the Dark Side won.

Mace snorted. He pulled out his blade and stabbed the Sith again. And again. A monster like this shouldn't be getting a clean death. Besides, Windu's fury demanded something more.

A blaster bolt slammed into his back. The Jedi's shield didn't activate and the shot slagged a lot of his armor, making him stagger and let release the mauled Sith.

Windu's furious gaze tracked the source of the blaster fire. His eyes fell on the prone figure of the woman whose ċhėst he just crushed. She was still somehow conscious and had defiantly raised a hand to shoot at him.

She had discarded her helmet and that allowed Windu to recognize her. It was that Mandalorian – the red head who married Veil. Despite being in obvious pain, despite the blood leaking from her mouth or the fact that she was likely already dead and simply still clinging to life of sheer stubbornness, she was glaring defiantly at him.

Then she shot at the Jedi again, though this time he contemptuously reflected her shot back, though it missed her face by a couple of centimeters, merely burning a bit of her hair.

Windu glared murderously at her. Bloody Mandalorians! There were more of the fools engaging the rest of the Jedi in close combat behind the crippled woman.

”Can't you feel it, Master Windu? You just lost!” The Sith taunted again.

As if such lies could…

For the first time since engaging Sidious, Windu paused to properly think. Even through the red haze of his fury, he could sense the truth in the Sith's words, but that couldn't be! This was the Shatterpoint of the Sith! Of the Dark Side itself!

Mace frowned, then forced his will upon the Force for the first time. He needed answers, now!

The world around Windu shifted subtly. The Force obeyed, his talent finally had enough time to work too.

And he saw it…

The Shatterpoint of the Dark Side. Both of them.

He could have, should have just killed Sidious earlier. That was the best chance to break the Dark Side Mace would have ever gotten. Because, now that he was aware of what exactly happened in the last few minutes, he knew he kriffed up.

Mace Windu was the Dark Side's second Shatterpoint. He could see himself right now. His path forward from this moment on.

That realization almost broke the Jedi, but not quite.

No. That was left for the third realization. For the last Shatterpoint he didn't even knew was right here until it was too late.

Mace stared at the broken figure of Bo-Katan. Bo-Katan Veil, that was her name now.

She was the Shatterpoint of the Light. Veil's too. And she was dying because of a Jedi. By Windu's hand.

Mace let out a single, long scream that expressed all the desperation of a damned soul who saw their whole world die around them. He could hear the Sith's mocking laughter. He could sense the promise of the Dark Side – all he had to do was surrender himself to it and the pain would be gone.

Windu blindly threw his lightsaber at the Sith. Even without looking, he knew the blade impaled Sidious in the ċhėst. With all his other wounds, the Chancellor was a dead man.

The Jedi paid no real attention to Palpatine. Instead his eyes were centered on the dying woman. While the Sith was finally silent, the same couldn't be said about the Dark Side. Mace could still hear it whispering quietly in the back of his mind.

This… This madness was simply too much.

Bo-Katan began chocking on her blood.

Mace could feel the veil of the Dark Side falling upon the galaxy all because of his actions. He averted his eyes from the dying woman and fled.

=RK=

General Veil's quarters

Corellian Cruiser Freedom

three hours from Kamino

Hyperspace

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed and meditating to gather my strength and clear my mind before the coming battle. I knew that no matter what we found at Kamino it was going to be ugly. My Battle Meditation might very well be needed before the day was over and I was going to need every bit of strength I was left in such a case.

However, my mind was far from Kamino right now. For the past hour the Force had been tremulous. The best way I could describe it was a real cauldron of storms, fury, fear and anticipation. Something momentous was happening and I was far away from a position to influence it.

Kriff Crimson, the fool who created it and Palpy for unleashing the never sufficiently damned thing!

A few minutes ago, the Force began practically shacking from tremors. Jedi were dying a lot of them. It was a sensation I was accustomed to from the war. The hell? Did Palpy decide to begin the purge far ahead of schedule or did the Jedi try something particularly unpleasant at the worst possible time?

I concentrated, pushed my will through the cauldron that was the Force and attempted to divine answers.

It took me some time, but eventually I was able to see some disjointed images.

A pair of Temple Guards falling upon a Clone patrol. A young Padawan – couldn't have been older than twelve screaming in fury and charging a whole platoon who had an elderly Jedi woman surrounded and were pumping shot after shot at her. Something that suspiciously looked like Obi-Wan bleeding on the ground.

With each image I saw, my anger grew.

”Damn all Jedi! Honorless bastards, the whole lot of them!” I hissed and pushed yet further. I needed to know more.

A huge dark presence revealed itself in the Force. It was like a beacon and not hard to identify – Palpy had done hiding it seemed and bloody hell, the sheer raw power I could feel coming from him. Suddenly I was glad I didn't do something dumb like confronting him without a lot of backup.

I dove through the Force towards Sidious' presence and was ȧssaulted with another wave of images. I got glimpses of Palpy cackling madly and Jedi dying. Of Windu engaging the Sith Lord and somehow managing to push him back.

The Dark Side shook. It shifted and I could feel it watching me with anticipation.

The next vision was a clear one.

I saw my wife setting a Jedi on fire with a flamethrower – good girl. The perspective changed. I saw Windu glaring at Bo, raising his hand, no bloody hell, then he simply crushed her ċhėst.

All I knew then was fury, which I channeled right back into the Force. My mind gripped the image, which was trying to flee and I used it as an anchor to seek Bo through the Force. It tool almost everything I got, yet thanks to both the vision and Palpy's fading presence acting as beacons I could locate my wife even if she was right across the galaxy.

My mind brushed hers. I could sense her pain, her anger. It stroked my fury into a blinding rage.

Not again! I wouldn't lose another wife to the kriffing Jedi! I would see the galaxy burn before I allow it!

I used the wisp of a connection we had and poured all my power through it, with one directive – Heal! The Force surged through me, fighting to push even a tiny bit of energy through the vast gulf separating me from Bo. I felt as if my body was on fire and didn't care, instead I grasped for more and more power.

I knew that a small trickle of healing energy somehow reached Bo, but that wasn't enough. I needed more! I pushed further and every cell in my body lit up with agony. I screamed, but didn't stop. I couldn't!

Palpatine's presence vanished, then the vision of Bo dying on the ground shattered and I my awareness was violently shoved back firmly into my body was so hot I felt like melting. Sweat was leaking from every pore in my skin and every rasping breath I could gasp sent red hot daggers of indescribable pain straight into my lungs.

I don't know how long I writhed in pain on the ground before my body could bleed off all the Force energy I was channeling without killing me. I was vaguely aware that if I had not gotten my body rebuilt back in the day, this experience wouldhave killed me. It may still do it in the coming days and weeks.

No! I snarled. I couldn't let myself die. I needed to find out what happened to my wife. If Bo died…

I used my fury to push the agony away. The pain didn't matter. My wife did. Making sure the Jedi – both new and old pay for their crimes did!

I used the wall to pull myself into a sitting position. My gaze passed over my hand and what I saw gave me pause. I raised my arm, turned it around and looked at my fingers. My skin was leathery, shivered. For the first time since I could remember, my arm looked like my real age.

I slowly got up and dragged myself to the fresher. I was still burning and needed water. Mirror too.

It took me a minute to stumble into the fresher gulp some water and finally look at myself. An old man in his late eighties or early nineties looked back with two blazing yellow eyes.

Yeah, I practically burned through my body all right. I just hoped I gave Bo a chance, that would make it worth it.

Bo, damn it…

I glared at the mirror. Despite the agony I knew it was going to cause me, I used the Force to activate the comm built in just outside the fresher.

”Officer of the Watch, this is General Veil. Have Admiral Holt meet me in the Flag Bridge in thirty minutes.” I hissed and cut of the connection.

I could no longer afford to waste any time on Kamino so it was time to change the plans. But first I needed to brew myself an alchemy concoction that would allow me to operate without crashing for the next few days. With my body practically kriffed up, I no longer needed to particularly care about the nastier long term side effects of the more potent stuff I could create. My body wasn't going to last more than a few months at this rate anyway.

=RK=

Part 8

Chancellor's quarters

Senate building

Coruscant

Sidious was dying.

Even his mastery over the Dark Side wasn't enough to sustain him his gutted body for long. It was only his anger, pain and glee fueling the Force within him that let him cling to life for so long. At least that allowed the Sith to see those Mandalorian fellas slaughter all the Jedi they could get their hands on. Sidious felt even more of the fools die outside of his sight, yet that force damned bastard Windu was getting away.