Chapter 1

Star Wars Infinities-Revenge of the Sith
by Aaron Pomerantz and Kylie Reinwood

The War is Over!
Word has reached Jedi General
Mace Windu that the Seperatist leader, the Cyborg
General Grievous, has been destroyed by General Obi-Wan Kenobi.
With the death of Grievous, the dreadful Clone Wars can now end and
Negotiations can take place regarding the surrender of the now leaderless Seperatist Army. At the same time, young Jedi Anakin Skywalker has found that his friend and mentor, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, is also the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, and has manipulated the entire war from the beginning. At the same time Mace Windu plans to inform the Chancellor and have him step down from office, Anakin races to the Jedi Temple to inform the masters of the Sith plot....

Chapter 1

Fear is the primary emotion that the Jedi avoid. “Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate, Hate leads to suffering” was Master Yoda’s maxim, and he had passed it on to every youngling he had trained in the many centuries of his life. However, Mace Windu felt fear and uncertainty. When Cody, clone Commander of the 212th Attack Battalion and aide to General Kenobi, had informed Windu that Obi-Wan had destroyed General Grievous, Windu had expected to feel pride, happiness, or satisfaction-not fear. The Korun Jedi Master had no idea what was going to happen now. One of Windu’s strengths in the Force was his ability to perceive shatterpoints-weak points-in everything. Every action and every material had a shatterpoint, and Mace Windu could see them all. Now his future stretched before him, and thousands upon thousands of shatterpoints were all his mind’s eye could perceive. Windu did not trust Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and he knew that making the old politician surrender his power would prove difficult. Every time he was asked to give up his power, Palpatine always found a new way to get out of it. Even now with the seeming end of the war, Windu had no doubt that Palpatine would, given his own way, remain in power. Windu intended to not let the Chancellor get his own way. He had been in power now for over a decade, several years beyond his allotted terms. Windu’s reverie was disturbed as a cloak-clad figure ran along the docking bay towards him. Windu winced in annoyance. It was young Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine’s favorite, and the last person Mace Windu wanted to see at the moment.
“Master Windu, I must speak with you.” Anakin was flushed and out of breath, and Mace Windu felt fear and pain radiating from Skywalker like heat from and oven. Windu decided to let Anakin begin the conversation rather than meddle in the Jedi’s affairs.
“Ah young Skywalker,” Windu delicately emphasized young to remind the young knight that Windu had not forgotten Anakin’s earlier insubordinate attitude. “We have just received word that Obi-Wan has destroyed General Grievous. We are on our way to make sure the Chancellor returns emergency powers back to the Senate.” A surge of emotion shot through Anakin, making a ripple in the Force that almost pushed Windu back.
“The Chancellor will never give up his power. I’ve just learned a terrible truth. Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord.” Windu blinked in astonishment, but immediately covered his emotions.
“A Sith Lord?” he asked incredulously. Anakin nodded, another surge of emotion flowing from him.
“Yes, Master. The one we’ve been searching for all this time.” Windu readied himself to dismiss the claim until he remembered the words of Count Dooku. “The senate is under the control of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.” Windu’s fear pierced him to the heart, as he realized just how possible Skywalker’s claim was.
“How do you know this?” Skywalker looked Windu in the eye, and Windu was troubled to see tears in the young Jedi Knight’s eyes.
“He knows the ways of the Force. He’s been trained in the ways of the Dark Side.” Windu steeled himself. If Palpatine was Sidious, then the very existence of the Jedi Order was threatened. He must move quickly.
“Our worst fears have then been realized. We must act now.” Anakin’s head raised, his gaze firm.
“Master, the Chancellor is very powerful. You will need my help if you are going to arrest him.” Mace Windu felt himself preparing his assent until he felt another wave of emotion surge from Anakin. Windu felt the influence of the Dark Side in Skywalker’s emotions. Palpatine had been one of Anakin’s closest friends, and Anakin was far too personally involved in this matter for his judgement to be clear. Far better that the young Jedi sat this battle out, for his own good.
“Young Skywalker, for your own good, stay out of this affair. I sense much confusion in you, there is fear that clouds your judgement. It is better that you remain at the temple until I have concluded this matter. You have earned my trust, young Skywalker. Wait for us in the council chambers until we return.” Anakin bowed to the older Jedi.
“Yes Master.” Anakin turned on his heel and strode towards a speeder. Mace wondered if he had done the young Jedi a disservice. Anakin had the potential to be the greatest Jedi in generations. At the tender age of 22, Anakin was a full Jedi knight, even serving on the council. While his appointment had been Palpatine’s idea, there had been talk before it of allowing the young Knight onto the Jedi High Council. Anakin’s connection to the Force was extraordinary, his lightsaber skills lethal, and his abilities beyond description. Anakin’s abilities were offset, however, by his emotions and his temperamental nature. Windu decided it was better to leave Skywalker out of the arrest.

Anakin Skywalker raced his hovercraft home. Had he been anyone else, he would have been pulled over by the Coruscant Traffic Corps for speeding. However, General Skywalker, poster-boy of the Grand Army of the Republic, would never be pulled over by mere civil servants. Skywalker brooded on the words of both Palpatine and Windu. He saw the kind, dignified face of his old friend, pleading with him. “Use my knowledge, I beg you!” Anakin had to wonder if there was something to Palpatine’s claim. Was the Dark Side the only way to save Padme? Anakin had been a Jedi from the age of nine. He had devoted himself to his Jedi training, and never had he thought the day would come when he would question them. However, three years earlier, when his mother had died, his faith in the Jedi had wavered, and it had continued wavering ever since. He remembered the screams of the Tusken Raiders as he butchered them, one by one, in revenge for his mother’s death. He remembered the feeling of intoxicating power as he massacred the entire village. He remembered his duel with the Darkside-apprentice, Asajj Ventress, remembering how it had taken his anger and rage to overcome her. He also remembered the feeling of hollowness that had followed his actions. However, that hollowness would be nothing compared to the death of his beloved wife. He had loved Padme since he had first met her, and he would not lose her. The words of master Yoda’s urging him to not be possessive paled before the Chancellor’s promises of saving Padme. But the Chancellor had betrayed him. All of Anakin’s friends that he had lost in the Clone Wars, all the times he had barely escaped with his life intact-all the times he had barely rescued Padme in time-those were all Palpatine’s fault. Anakin had no love of Palpatine, not after this betrayal. But he might need his teaching in order to save the one he did love. As Anakin eased up his speeder’s throttle, he remembered the look of sheer horror on Dooku’s face as Palpatine-who Anakin now knew to be Dooku’s Sith master-ordered Anakin to behead him. Was that the same fate that awaited Anakin? Was that all Palpatine’s promises were? Empty things that ended in death? Anakin remembered how Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi Knight who had brought him to the Order, had perished at the hands of a Sith. Was that Palpatine’s master or apprentice? Anakin remembered his friends who had perished because of the Sith, and he weighed them against his wife’s life. As his and Padme’s apartment came into view, Anakin decided. His speeder’s engines roared as he accelerated away from the apartment toward the Senate building.

Mace Windu, Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto strode along the red-carpeted halls of the Senate building. The halls were mostly abandoned, the Senate not being in session, but occasionally the Jedi would pass a senator who would nod or smile at them. They did not smile back. Each one of the Jedi was disturbed, drawing into the Force for the strength they knew they would soon need in the upcoming confrontation. Each one of them had fought the Dark Side before, but even Mace Windu, who had fought the Jedi-turned-Sith Count Dooku, knew they had never faced what they were about to encounter; a Dark Lord. Jedi legends had long told of the powers the ancient Dark Lords of the Sith had possessed. Names such as Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Nihilus, and Bane had been used to scare younglings for millennia. However the Sith had remained hidden for over a thousand years, and no living Jedi had fought and beaten a Sith Lord save for two-Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The four Jedi knew that if they did not end the threat of the Sith once and for all, the Jedi order might end. In their determined reverie, they did not notice a cloaked figure slowly following them down the hall.

Palpatine surveyed the skyline of Coruscant. His city. His world. His empire. Palpatine closed his eyes and allowed himself a brief smile. Not the smile of the political world, the smile that he allowed the Republic to see, but the smile of triumph. All was going as he had foreseen. Dooku’s death had been slightly irritating, but not without benefit. After all, it had pushed Skywalker further to the Dark Side. Now with his fears of losing his wife, Skywalker was teetering on the edge of the Darkness. Palpatine knew he could push him over that edge, and then the Sith would be two again. Of course, there were the troublesome Dark Acolytes of the Separatists to deal with, as well as the Jedi order, but he had taken measures against the Jedi, and the Acolytes would be nothing before an unleashed Skywalker. Palpatine smiled, and then lowered his hands as he felt the presence of Mace Windu enter the hall outside his office. He turned his chair as the Jedi Master, flanked by three others, entered the office. Palpatine was slightly perturbed. Four Jedi to inform him of Grievous’s demise? It shouldn’t have taken that many to inform him of that.
“Master Windu. I take it General Grievous has been destroyed then. I must say, you're here sooner than expected....” Palpatine injected a hint of his annoyance into the last sentence, to communicate his displeasure that the Jedi had disturbed him. Windu glared at the Chancellor and then drew his lightsaber, igniting it in a flare of purple.
“In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest.” Palpatine glared at the Jedi, seething with rage inside. Now was not the time for this. Not at all. It was too soon. He spoke in a haughty, offended tone.
“Are you threatening me Master Jedi?” Windu didn’t even flinch, but simply raised his lightsaber, as the other three ignited theirs.
“The Senate will decide your fate.” Palpatine stood up, his eyes no longer able to contain the rage that smoldered inside him.
“I am the Senate!” he snarled at the Jedi. Windu stared into the eyes of the Chancellor, not blinking.
“Not yet.” Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin stepped forward, taking each side of Windu, while Kit Fisto covered the door, his green blade raised. Palpatine smirked. If such was the way of things, then he would make the best of them. He flicked his wrist and his lightsaber fell from a hidden holster on his forearm into his hand. He hissed at the four Jedi.
“So it’s treason then...” Palpatine’s fingers depressed the ignitor switch of his lightsaber and he leaped at Agen Kolar, twirling in the air like a diver, and impaled the Zabrak Jedi through the heart. Tiin, Fisto, and Windu circled around the Sith Lord, who crouched low, like an animal about to pounce. He lunged at Tiin, who deflected his blow. Palpatine spun his lightsaber around and slashed the Iktotchi through his chest. Tiin gave a cry of pain, and then crumpled, his green lightsaber falling to the ground and extinguishing. Windu roared at his friends’ deaths and charged the Sith Lord. Windu practiced the art of Vaapad, a lightsaber style which channeled rage and aggression into one’s lightsaber. Palpatine found Windu a challenge as the much younger Jedi furiously assaulted the older Sith Lord. Fisto hung back, not wanting to inject himself into the fray. Palpatine reached into his rage and his hatred of the Jedi and hurled the full force of them at Windu with a Force push. Windu was hurled backwards and Palpatine leaped at Fisto. Fisto deflected Palpatine’s initial assault, but Palpatine flicked the Nautolan’s saber out of the way and slashed him through the abdomen. Fisto’s eyes misted over and he fell to the ground. Palpatine drew his saber back, pointing the crimson blade at Windu and snarling. Windu glared at Palpatine, allowing Vaapad to overcome him. He withdrew from his emotions, almost as if he were watching himself from outside his body, and allowed his rage and hatred of the Sith Lord to take over. Palpatine was skilled, but he could not protect himself from the furious onslaught of Windu. Neither of them noticed as the cloaked figure of Anakin Skywalker entered the room. Windu circled Palpatine and slashed at his head. Palpatine ducked out of the way, and Windu’s lightsaber slashed through the window of the Chancellor’s office. The window shattered and winds poured into the office. Palpatine rushed at Windu, striking at his head, and Windu saw then the shatterpoint of Palpatine’s dueling form; he committed too much to high strikes. Windu roared as he parried the blade, turning himself fully into the block and striking furiously. The force of the blow knocked the lightsaber out of Palpatine’s hands and out the window, sending the gold and silver hilt falling thousands of stories down. Windu pointed the lightsaber at Palpatine, who scrambled back to the window and tripped, propping himself up against the edge. Windu glared at the Sith Lord, his purple blade pointed at Palpatine’s throat.
“You are under arrest, my Lord.” Palpatine glanced to the side.
“Anakin, I told you it would come to this! The Jedi are taking over!” Windu turned and saw Skywalker standing there, his hood down, staring at the Jedi and the Sith. Windu turned back to the Sith Lord.
“The oppression of the Sith will never return. You have lost.” Palpatine sneered and his eyes smoldered.
“No, no, you will die!” As he spoke the last word he thrust out his fingers and waves of Force Lightning poured out of them towards Windu. Windu blocked them with his lightsaber, reflecting them back on Palpatine. Palpatine’s face began to warp, until he glared up at Windu and thrust forward again. Windu continued to deflect the lightning, when, to his horror, his lightsaber sputtered and died, the violet energy beam dispersing, unable to endure before the furious onslaught of the Sith lightning. Windu was struck physically by the full impact of Sidious’s lightning and blasted backward into the office. Palpatine sprang to his feet and used the Force to draw Kit Fisto’s lightsaber towards him. Catching it by its handle, he ignited the emerald blade and advanced on the moaning Mace Windu.
“You see Anakin? The Jedi are powerless. They limit themselves to the ‘light’ side of the Force, and thus they are denied the true power. That, Anakin, is why only I can save the one you love. Only I can save Padme. Join me, as my apprentice, and we can conquer the death that threatens your wife.” Palpatine did not even look at Anakin as he spoke, but simply strode toward Windu, Fisto’s lightsaber raised. “Now, my Jedi friend,” he hissed at Windu, “you will die.” He raised the blade to stab when suddenly Anakin cried out.
“No!” Anakin hurled himself at the Chancellor, his blue lightsaber ignited, and slashed the hand that held the lighsaber. Palpatine’s face, scarred and yellow-eyed, looked up in shock, as Anakin landed from his force-aided leap, turned, and slashed through the Sith Lord’s body. Palpatine grunted in shock as the energy-blade severed his spine and organs, cauterizing the wounds as it did so. Anakin drew his ungloved left hand back and then shoved it forward, using the Force to hurl Palpatine’s body backwards. Palpatine’s eyes rolled back in his head as his body was blasted back in two pieces, falling on the red-carpeted floor of his office. Anakin stared at the corpse of his mentor, and then extinguished his lightsaber, collapsing onto a chair still staring at Palpatine’s body.
“What have I done?” he moaned, tears flowing from his eyes in despair.