[X] He joins the Jedi when it comes to removing Darth Sidious
Technically speaking, you aren't getting paid for it, but you don't like seeing this job left unfinished. And to be honest, it has been some years since you really considered yourself to just be another bounty hunter. That life got left behind for whatever your life is currently. You're not the Mand'alor again, but you have grown beyond being a mere bounty hunter.
As tempting as it would be to head back to Kamino to wait this all out, you felt the need to see this through. You had betrayed Sidious and you wanted to ensure that this would be his downfall. If he got away from this, you didn't fancy your chances of continued survival.
So you decide to take up the Jetiise on their invitation and tag along to make sure that Darth Sidious doesn't get away.
The trip is quiet. You, two squads of commandos and a dozen Jedi Masters make your way from the Jedi Temple to the Senate Dome. You don't know exactly what is going on, but you do know that the others pick up what is going on. The Coruscant Security Force are watching your movements as are a few members of the Judicial Forces. Senators stop to stare and whisper with varying degrees of subtlety and you are certain that Palpatine himself will be alerted to your presence. The only group that seems unaware that anything is amiss seems to be the Senate Guard, which is proof of them living down to what you have heard of them because noticing things like this is like half their kriffing job.
You weren't sure what you were expecting when the confrontation with the Supreme Chancellor took place, but the one thing you weren't expecting to happen is for the Sith Lord to dismiss his aides and bodyguards before surrendering him. A sly comment to the Jetiise about this being 'well played' before returning to the act of a confused and innocent Supreme Chancellor, protesting this is unwarranted and illegal arrest as they brought him back to the Jedi Temple.
The majority of the Senators seemed outraged by the actions of the Jedi, but of course none of them have the guts to do anything beyond bluster. The gathered CSF and Judicial Forces outside the Executive Building seemed just as unhappy about what was going on, but it was also clear that none of them were unhappy enough to pick a fight with the Jedi over it. On the other hand, the Senate Guard seemed very pleased by this turn of events so the point you were wondering just what the kriff Palps had done to piss all of them off that they were all reacting like this.
***
"The Jedi traitors have just illegally arrested the Chancellor," declares A-01-16753 as their leadership of the Republic Shocktrooper program gathers to discuss the rather sudden and unexpected turn of events.
"That is a lot of other clones on the planet around," says A-02-07004, "They weren't supposed to be here and we were not informed about their arrival. And worst of all, we have identified eight of them as part of the Jedi's entourage when they arrested the Supreme Chancellor."
"Jango is with them," points out Thanto, "That must mean that they are doing something right."
"No, it just means the bounty hunter is a traitor too," retorts A-01-16753 as he and most of the other clones in the room glare at Thanto, "We have to do something to stop them and save the Chancellor."
"Like kriff we do," retorts Thanto as he glares right back at A-01-16753, "The boss, the Jedi and the vode are all in on this while the Chancellor is a slimeball. I know which of those I trust to be doing the right thing."
A-01-16763 is the first to move, reaching for his holstered blaster pistol. Thanto reacts even faster, kicking the table into the air and punching it at the other clone before reaching his own pistol. He jerks back just in time to avoid A-02-07004's first blaster shot and fires his own pistol at his fellow clone. The two of them draw headshots as Thanto burns a hole in the forehead of A-02-07004 while A-02-07004 puts a blaster bolt through Thanto's eye.
From there, the meeting devolves into a bloody, close-quarter deathmatch as those loyal to the Chancellor fight those loyal to Jango and their vode.
***
"Too many of the younger generations will be insufficiently loyal," declares A-01-16753 as he approaches the armoury with dented, blood-stained armour and a loyal cadre of first-generation shocktroopers, "We need to save the Chancellor, but we will need to purge this rot out of our ranks first. Even if they do outnumber us five to one."
***
"This feels like it is going too easy, boss," says Olse to you in Mando'a as you watch the corner that the Jetiise had turned with that shabuir Palpatine.
"You're not the only one, Olse," you reply, having your own concerns about how easy this is going, "I expected this to be the end, but it isn't. The Jedi don't believe me about Dooku and Palpatine is still alive instead of dead. He surrendered without a fight and I don't like that. He must have a plan for this."
"We should have just put a blaster bolt in his head," mutters Olse.
"Maybe," you half-agree, "That would have its own set of problems. The best thing for us would have been if he had fought, but I suspect that is part of why he didn't."
"Kriffing Sith," growls Olse.
You are about to agree with her when an explosion rocks you, followed by several others.
"What the kriff is going on?" you snarl as you pull out both of your WESTAR-34 blaster pistols.
"Unidentified Mandalorians are assaulting the Jedi Temple," reports one of the clone commandos on overwatch from outside, "They are wearing red and white armour like our default colours, but I don't recognise any of them."
"It must be the clones that Sidious had me transfer to his personal custody," you growl, "Jedi! We've under attack by a secret backup Sith army of Mandalorian clones! They have to be here to bust out Palpatine."
To their credit, the Jetiise react reasonably well to the attack, drawing their lightsabers and moving towards the sounds of fighting. You and Olse join them as while the two of you have armour and blasters over robes and lightsabers, you are caught up in this as much as any Jedi.
You push down your frustration as you notice how much better Olse is than you. The girl is faster and more coordinated than you and even with your superior experience, it is clear that clone has some advantages over the original to the point that she reaches the battle entry hall before you.
The fighting is in full swing and you belatedly remember that this is the first time you fought in a major battle since that accursed day at Galidraan. Jetiise with their colourful blades fight against armoured dar'manda alongside figures in combat fatigues and blasters.
You mark your entry into the fray by firing your jetpack rocket at one of the attackers. The missile slams into him, sending him flying back, but thanks to you shelling out for the good stuff, it isn't enough to kill the dar'manda, just badly injure the individual. Ignoring him for now, you begin to fire at the dar'manda alongside Olse.
The attackers don't fall easily, but you are kriffing Jango Fett and you are the best kriffing bounty hunter in the galaxy and once Mand'alor. You aim for the joints and other weak points in the armour, easily picking off half a dozen of the dar'manda and injuring another score before the enemy brings up the tanks as five TX-130 Sabre-class Fighter Tank roll up and open fire.
For a minute or two, things hold together as one of the tanks gets crushed by the Force and another is taken apart by that funny small green Jedi Master, Yodar or something like that. Then the next wave of Sabre tanks roll up and a pair of missiles strikes the miniature Jedi as he leaps about, one landing on either side of him. Yodar is thrown aside and while that doesn't kill him, the dozen dar'manda unloading their blasters into him does.
With the death of that Jedi, the defence collapses as the Jetiise are demoralised by his death. Many falter and die while others embrace their rage and throw themselves at the dar'manda, killing a few more before they die. You attempt to hold, but the tide has turned as the attackers have gotten the upper hand over the defenders.
Olse goes down shortly after that, her armour finally giving out after one too many blaster shots. You move to drag her to safety, but before you can reach her, one of the Sabre tanks blasts her with its main guns. Cursing under your breath, you activate your jetpack and fly further inwards into the temple as the initial defence falls apart.
You don't get far before the dar'manda hit your jetpack. Snarling in frustration, you let it go, falling to the ground with a painful thud as your jetpack goes spiralling out of control before exploding as it strikes one of the pillars. Grimacing in pain, you stumble to your feet, blasting away with your WESTARs as the dar'manda lay into you with their own blasters. You have a set of pure beskar armour, but even Mandalorian iron can only do so much to protect you.
Your leg gives out first, dropping you to one knee and one of your arms gives out next, causing one of your blasters to clatter to the ground. You fall forwards, barely conscious as you struggle to hold onto both wakeness and life itself. Your second WESTAR slips from your grip and you attempt to crawl forward.
One of the dar'manda kicks you in the side before turning you onto your back with his foot. You attempt to sneer, but the best you can do right now is a wheeze.
"Time to die traitor," says the dar'manda as he aims his blaster at you and fires.
And yet you are not without one last trick up your sleeve or rather on it. You jerk to the size so the blaster bolt hits your beskar chestplate while throwing up your remaining arm. You fire your wrist-mounted rocket into the trooper and your last thoughts are of your ad, Boba, and how you won't be able to see him grow up or be there for him.
***
Darth Sidious throws himself out of the Jedi Temple, using the carnage of the assault by his loyal shocktroopers to cover his escape. That wretched bounty hunter had ruined years of work and trillions of credits, but it wasn't a total loss. Enough of his shocktroopers remained loyal and while they had failed to break him out on their own, they might be able to do some severe damage to those accursed Jedi.
He certainly took great pleasure in watching a band of shocktroopers gun down that irritating Kel Dor Plo Koon and if he had overheard the Jedi correctly on his way out, even Master Yoda himself had been killed by Sidious' loyal soldiers.
He uses the Force to soften his landing before running off into the streets. Sidious will need to put some distance between himself and the Jedi while the assault is keeping them too busy to hunt him down. Ideally he will be able to get off-world as once Sidious is off Coruscant, the Jedi will have a hard time tracking him down. The Sith Lord has no shortage of boltholes and once he is out of the immediate reach of the Jedi, he can make a public appearance and denounce the Jedi Order as traitors to the Republic and destroy them that way.
After all, they arrested the most popular Supreme Chancellor in generations on charges that won't hold up with evidence that is suspect at best. He can weather the storm and destroy the Jedi by turning the galaxy against them using their own actions. And even if Jango Fett has betrayed him, Sidious still has the chips implanted in all of the clones. He just needs to transmit the activation command to Kamino and he will have a loyal army completely capable of crushing the surviving Jedi and their allies.
Yes, today has been far from ideal or planned, but he can use it. In the end, it will be the Sith who have the last laugh not the Jedi. The Grand Plan is too far in motion to be stopped by the Jedi Order let alone some jumped up bounty hunter.
"There he is," says a voice and Sidious tenses before relaxing as he turns to face a squad of Senate Guards.
"Commander, it is such a relief-" starts Sidious as he puts up his kindly old man act that he uses as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
The blaster bolt striking his shoulder catches the Sith Lord completely off-guard.
"Remember," says the Senate Guard Commander as he and the rest of the Senate Guards open fire on the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, "He was killed resisting arrest."
The last thoughts of Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith and Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, is that he cannot be dying to Senate Guard of all in people, being ignobly gunned down in a back alley.
***
Jedi Master Mace Windu slumps in his seat as the doors to his quarters aboard the
Democracy slide shut. Today has been nothing less than a disaster and the worst thing to happen to the Jedi Order since the New Sith Wars.
He hadn't been sure of what to make of Jango Fett when the Mandalorian bounty hunter had first shown up, but the man had proven himself true in the hand. If only Jango hadn't died like so many others today.
Yoda, his master and a fixture in the Jedi Order, gone. His old padawan, Depa Billaba, fell in battle against Sidious' backup army. Plo, Adi, Shaak and the rest of the Jedi High Council? All dead to the Sith soldiers, leaving only Mace to take leadership of the Jedi Order in these trying times. At least until replacements could be appointed and even then, Mace would need to take over from Yoda as Grand Master of the Jedi Order as the sole surviving member of the High Council.
The attack was devastating with thousands of Mandalorian clone soldiers attacking the Jedi Temple. They had some Mandalorian clones of their own on their side, but a few hundred wasn't much compared to a few thousand, especially when that few thousand had tanks on their side. Half the Temple had collapsed though the Room of a Thousand Fountains and the Jedi Archives had both thankfully been spared the destruction.
The casualties had been equally devastating if not more so. Perhaps half of the Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters on Coruscant had died in the attack with the saving grace being that none of the younglings were lost and only a quarter of the Padawan Learners had been slain. Even with the number of Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy when the attack took place, that is still almost four thousand dead Jedi.
And then the Senate. Mace and the rest of the Council had known that the Senate would be unhappy with them arresting Palpatine, but they had never suspected that they would be so upset that they would call up an emergency session and pass a majority vote to outlaw the Jedi Order as a terrorist organisation with every adult member of the Jedi Order to be killed on sight.
While there had been public outrage at the news, the CSF and the Judicial Forces had been all too eager to carry out those new laws against the reeling Jedi. Or at least they had been before the clone fleet had jumped out of hyperspace. When faced with a dreadnought and two dozen capital ships with almost five hundred escorts with tens of thousands of heavily armed Mandalorians aboard, the Senate, CSF and the Judicial Forces had all backed down.
The Jedi couldn't conquer Coruscant without destroying their reputation, but it was enough to get them the time to empty the Temple and evacuate Coruscant. Somethings like the Room of a Thousand Fountains would have to be left behind, but the survivors, the fallen and all of their equipment could be brought with them as could all of the records and holocrons in the Archives.
It was a new chapter for the Jedi Order, one with a bloody and dark start, but it was one that left them with hope and Mace vowed he would see the Order through. He had sent out messages to all of the Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy, warning their wandering members and those at satellite academies and outposts of what had transpired.
But for now, Mace needed to lead the survivors of today's events to sanctuary and he had to decide upon one.
Where do the survivors of the Jedi Order go?
[] Kamino. They have a loyal army and fleet there to protect them and it will give them a chance to group in safety.
[] Alderaan. A traditional ally of the Jedi Order, the Alderaanians have made a stand against the Senate by offering the Jedi Order safe haven on their world despite their new status.
[] Corellia. Mostly to spite the Senate and assert their semi-independence, the Corellians have offered to house the Jedi Order whilst they get their affairs in order.
[] Ilum. Ilum is a traditional world of the Jedi and whilst inhospitable, it is location is a Jedi secret and no one should be able to find them at Ilum.
[] Dantooine. Dantooine was once a major enclance of the Jedi Order and perhaps it can once again be a home to the Jedi Order.
***
This was a devastating rollercoaster of a turn. Everyone, but the Senate Guard noticed that the Jedi were up to something and when the time came, Palpatine peacefully surrendered. That left the Senate outraged and the Coruscant Security Force and Judicial Forces were unhappy though not unhappy enough to attack the Jedi. Funnily enough, the Senate Guard were all 'Palpatine Delenda Est' so I have no idea what he did to piss all of them off.
From there, the pro-Sith shocktroopers fought the pro-Jedi shocktroopers. Despite being outnumbered four to one, the pro-Sith shocktroopers emerged triumphant and launched a valiant assault on the Jedi Temple to see the Chancellor from those traitorous Jedi. They failed in their goal just barely and got wiped out for their troubles, but they inflicted disastrous harm to the Jedi Order.
Half of the Jedi Temple was destroyed and about half of the Jedi on Coruscant were killed. Jango and every member of the Jedi High Council apart from Mace Windu died in the fighting. The only saving grace is that none of the younglings got harmed, the two most irreplaceable rooms in the Temple got through the attack. Unfortunately, Palpatine was able to slip away in the chaos…only for the Senate Guard to come in with a steel chair screaming "Palpatine Delenda Est!" at the top of their lungs as they killed Palpatine in a back alley.
After that, the Senate called an emergency session and outlawed the Jedi Order as a terrorist organisation. The arrival of your fleet stayed in the hand of CSF or Judicial Forces however and so the Jedi were able to escape Coruscant with what they had left.
It hasn't been included in this update, but the Jedi rolled a 100 on a d100 for the public reaction. Meanwhile the Senate got a 94, but failed to repeal their decision to outlaw the Jedi and Dooku got a roll of 97. Palpatine was the unlucky one with a roll of 14 so all of that will be interesting to cover in the next update as I cover the fallout of this update's events.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
