A long time ago
In a Galaxy far far away.........
STAR WARS
REVENGE OF THE SITH – A WHAT IF STORY
War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.
In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.
As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor......... AND SUCCEED.......And safely crash land on the Capital planet of Coruscant.
Anakin walks along with obi wan and the rest of the council members while escorting the chancellor to the Senate building. Master Mace Windu says “Dooku might be dead Chancellor”, he glances towards anakin, he realizes this andbends his head, it was not the jedi way to execute a defeated foe, but he was not your regular jedi. He was the bold, bravado, unconventional jedi with the perfect amount of dash. The best General of the clone army the republic had, the darling of the galaxy, ‘THE HERO WITH NO FEAR' . What would snips say, she would..........GOD, he missed Ashoka, all her snipping and all that, she shouldn’t have left the order. “But General Grievous is still free”, Mace continued “ And we cannot allow that if we are to end this war.” “You are right Master Jedi, without the mind of Grievous the separatist military would crumble.”, Palpatine
Turning towards the council members he said, “I would immediately order the Republic intelligence to conduct galaxy wide operations to determine the location of Grievous, But now I have some other important matters to attend to, the Senate will today decide on the bill to allow the further production of Clone troopers, in face of recent defeats and CERTAIN COSTLY VICTORIES. I hope you understand how important my presence is.” “Understand you perfectly we do, Chancellor, bother you we will not, till after adjourned the Senate is, hmmmmm.”, said the small green ancient Jedi Master Yoda. Anakin still wondered how can he be so old and yet be the best duelist in the entire order along with a mystifying understanding of the FORCE. Yet Anakin cared not, throughout the war he had trained and became so good that now he is the best duelist too in the entire order with stalemating Master Windu and loosing to Master Yoda with just a single miss. Though both masters acknowledged that if he learned a bit more of patience he could defeat them too. Not was he the only person to contend with the Grand Master of the Order and the Master of the Coucil, he was the youngest one to do so, to be with it……he was the youngest knight in the order, but he was way ahead than all the master. He had been the most prodigal Jedi the Galaxy has seen in Millenniums, no…….he was the most prodigal Jedi the galaxy HAS EVER SEEN. The best duelist and the best starfighter pilot too. And his natural connection to the FORCE was EXCEPTIONALLY strong. As the council walks away Anakin tries to sneak away. “Anakin!”, Obi wan calls out softly, “sneaking of to you know where again.” “You know master I do no such thing.” “huhh", Obi Wan sighs and then with a twinkle in his eyes and a hushed smile he says, “Tell Padmé I said hello.”, and walks off before Anakin could counter. Attachments, especially emotional attachments are forbidden in the order lest you risk falling to the dark side, Anakin knew this but he cared not for he was with the love of his life senator Padme Amidala. He knew this was wrong but he decided he will leave the order after the war, like Ashoka did and live happily forever but know the order and the galaxy needed him. But it won’t be long. The war was in its last stages, the clone wars they call it. The last battles of mid rim are being fought on Kasshyk while the last outer rim sieges are in their last stages too. The last of separatist garrisons being battered. The cloning world of Kamino was well secured and so was the Rishi maze.
But the today’s attack on Coruscant had made him a bit cautious. Well the only good thing was he met Ashoka again after the battle of Yebren, he has sent her to Mandalore along with Rex and a half of the 501st battalion, she was not back in the order but it was a start. Their visit cut short by the attack on Coruscant and the council’s immediate request for reinforcements. But one thing Anakin still didn’t understand is how the hell in Mustafar did Obi Wan knew about him and padme. He had kept it a secret, a well kept secret but how. Obi Wan teased him about this even during their deployment on Anaxes. Well that’s a good sign he thought, that he hasn’t told the council already. They were like brothers after all.
Anakin swiftly moves through the vast halls and corridors of the senate building, towards the office of his beloved. He reaches there soon enough and enters silently, but the office is empty. He is about to call out when someone leaps upon him from behind and hugs him. It is Padme. They both look at each other, nothing in their eyes but love. “Ani", Padme says softly, “Ani I am pregnant”, she smiles. Anakin is startled, he smiles and stammers, “You are..e.e……” She puts a finger on his lips and hushes him……. “Yes", she says softly. Anakin gives a cry in joy and lifts her up. She can feel his arms around herself. His hand and the robotic prosthetic right hand which replaced his original hand after they were severed by Count Dooku at the beginning of the war on Geonisis. She looks at his face, that handsome face with broad yet slender features, slightly pointed chin which is flat just at the bottom, those beautiful blue eyes and that scar over is right eye which he got fighting the assassin of Count Dooku, Assaj vventress. But she dosent care and she still loves him. They revel in their joy and happiness. That evening they go to the Hero’s plaza. The last piece of uncovered land left on the planet city of Coruscant
1 WEEK LATER AT NIGHT……..
Anakin wakes up panting from his sleep, sweating badly. He glances at Padme , sound asleep. He had that nightmare again......Padme dying during childbirth. He becomes terrified . He silently vows, like he silently vowed at his mother’s grave. He won’t let the same fate fall on Padme. He had vowed, and he vows again that he will become so powerful that nobody he loves will ever die, not Padme, not Obi Wan, not Ashoka, not Rex.....NOBODY!!!!!
The war was at its end, yes it was but still it was precarious. The Intelligence has indicated that General Grievous has relocated the separatist High Command to Utapa.......Anakin had requested to go with Obi Wan and personally lead the campaign which would seal the Republic victory in the war, but ever since the chancellor had assigned him as a member of the jedi council even though he was a knight the council always seemed to distrust him and be wary of him. Whenever a jedi was assigned to the council they were assigned the Rank of the Master. But the council took a page from Anakin’s notebook and took a departure from the norm. “You are on the council but we do not grant you the rank of the Master", had said Master Windu. “How could this be, how could you be on the council but not be a master......IT IS OUTRAGEOUS, IT IS UNFAIR. Anakin didn’t care about any title. What he cared about was the access that came with it. The jedi Masters could access the restricted section of the Jedi archives, and the archives would surely hold something that would help Anakin save Padme. But it didn’t matter Obi Wan had gone to Utapa and here was Anakin on his way to meet Chancellor Palpatine.
He entered the Opera House where the Chancellor was seated with his advisers. “Leave us”, said the chancellor to his advisers and they obeyed. “Come Anakin, sit. Pray tell me how is Padme.”, Palpatine had always been a father figure to anakin since his childhood training days at the Jedi Temple. “Good Chancellor.”, he said. “And the nightmares, Anakin was shocked”, he never told the Chancellor about those nightmares.
“Anakin I know you must be confused”, he said with a wry smile. But our more immediate concern is to help save Padme. Have you hear about the TRAGEDY OF DARTH PLAGEIUS THE WISE. The sith lord who was so powerful that he could prevent those around him from dying. Anakin was horrified, the War, Count Dooku, the attempts on Padme’s life. It all had been Palpatine all along. ANAKIN RUSHES TO HIS SPEEDER.......FLYING AS FAST AS HE COULD IN THE SKYLINE OF CORUSCANT ALL THE WHILE PALPATINE SITS SMILING.
“Finally after thousands of generations of scheming the the Sith will have their REVENGE!!!!!!!”
Anakin rushes to Mace windu, the only senior Jedi Master on Coruscant. And tells him all about the revelation that come forth. PALPATINE IS THE SITH LORD THEY HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL AROUND. “Stay here Anakin”, Mace windu says with urgency in his voice. But will Anakin stay?
MEANWHILE ON UTAPA.......
Obi wan has just returned to his Battalion after killing General grievous when suddenly his clones turn on him.......and attempt to kill him. Obi Wan barely escapes and is confused. He hears a voice......he hears it through the FORCE .......it is Anakin.....he is crying “What have I done” “Worry not......MY APPRENTICE.....and rise DARTH VADER.” “I hope Padme forgives me, Obi wan will understand......he always does, Ashoka, Ashoka she will listen to me I AM HER MASTER.”
ON MUSTAFAR THE ONCE BROTHERS NOW ENEMIES STAND TOGETHER IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER........
Aside from them lies the still breathing body of Padme, force choked into unconscious by Anakin. THE DARK SIDE HAS TAKEN OVER HIM COMPLETELY IF HE CAN DO THIS TO PADME, thinks OBI WAN, the last relic of the now destroyed Jedi Order. But in still must try......there must be still good in him
“If you are not with me, then you are against me", says anakin....his eyes now yellow with the dark side.
“Please Anakin, don’t do this, there is still time, we can still stop this, we can stop the Chancellor. For ME, FOR ASHOKA, FOR PADME, for your twin children, Obi wan at says with resignation”
For a moment anakin is startled, the flicker of his blue eyes comes back, he lowers his lightsaber and begins to say..........
“You don’t want to see it EZRA”, says the Voice of Ahoka, now over 30 years old. They were standing in the WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS a dimensional gateway across space and time, watching the events of 15 years ago.....the cataclysmic event that led to the fall of the Jedi order and the republic and rise of the Empire.
“We both know Anakin NEVER made that choice"
“And we both know what he is now.”
Ezra frowned, it was right and now the emperor ruled supreme.
“But we can change it", said Ezra hopeful and excited.
“We can change it so Kanan and other’s dont have to die",tears begin to swell up in him now.
“You can’t, it’s an alternate timeline, even if you changed the past events, you wont change our present, you will just create a new future. The FORCE has it’s way Ezra, that’s why this dimension exists but this is not the way......now cmmon”,said Ashoka
We cannot change our past, but we can alter our future, a better future.
Samarjeet Singh Sandhu