Saga The Dark Day (some RoTS events from another point of view)

Hi. I wrote this a while ago and have decided to post it online.

It follows some OC's through some of the events of Return of The Sith with guest star appearances from Anakin Skywalker and Shaak Ti.

I enjoyed writing it, and I hope anybody that finds it enjoys reading it.

 

The Dark Day

Three bolts of sizzling energy flew at Saul but he swatted them away with ease, each yellow bolt rebounding off his lightsabre with sharp whines. He turned to face his opponent, his lightsabre rising automatically to block the overhead swipe that he sensed rather than saw. He parried the next flurry of blows clumsily, caught off guard. Never in the years he?d known her had Kath attacked so aggressively, she had surprised him. But he saw her error. She was advancing too fast, losing her balance while he backed off surely, blocking each blow as it came with natural ease.
After a particularly aggressive overhead swing, Saul performed a precise parry then spun on his left heel while bending the leg. He shot out his right foot, catching Kath in the back of her legs. She stumbled to her knees, but recovered skillfully by reversing her saber and thrusting it under her arm at him. But Saul had anticipated the strike before it had begun and was flying over Kath in a forward flip before he knew what he was doing. He sensed danger and swung wildly with his light saber, deflecting two more bolts as he righted himself. Before him Kath was struggling to return her blade to a defensive position, to defend herself from the blow she knew must come. But she was too late. Saul
let out a triumphant laugh as he thrust his lightsabre through her jedi robes and into her chest.

 

Kath winced as she felt the sting of the blade and vindictively swung her saber at Saul?s leg. He jumped back a fraction of a second too late.
?Kath,? he moaned, rubbing his sore leg as he deactivated his lightsabre, switching the power level back to normal, ?you can?t hit me when you?re dead, it?s cheating.?
?Shut up, waiter boy,? she retorted, calling him by a name she had fashioned for him when he told her his parents owned a diner. ?You didn?t have to stab me so hard?.
Saul was about to reply but the retort died in his throat as Master Ti approached, deactivating the remotes as she came.
After they exchanged the formal bow, she addressed him. ?Saul, your technique is good and you have instincts, you must learn however, to react to them more precisely and trust the force to guide your hand. Your focus on the fight was good although you must listen to the force even when you think that you don?t need to. Then you will not be caught off guard. Your outside focus also needs working on, you must be aware of your surroundings even as you concentrate on the fight.?
?Yes Master, Thank you Master,? Saul replied. After praising Kath for her almost successful charge, she walked away, giving each student praise, advice, encouragement and instruction. Saul turned back to his friend. Kath had adopted a look of disapproval and shook her head at him as if ashamed.
?You must be aware of your surroundings Saul,? she said in a mock disappointed voice, ?otherwise I might beat you again.?
Saul snorted in mirth. ?We?ve been here nearly nine years and you?ve only beaten me once.?
?Well you notice that I was given more praise than you so Master Ti obviously recognizes that I only let you win.?
?Kath, Kath, Kath. Don?t you see that she knows I?m best so doesn?t expect you to win. She was congratulating you on not losing too badly.?
Saul grinned as the jedi students left the practice arena. In all modesty he knew he was the most skilful lightsabre swordsman in his generation, at thirteen years he was top of his class. Several of his classmates were stronger in the force but he could always win in the arena. Kath kicked him in his sore shin, snapping him out of his contemplation.
?Wake up waiter boy,? she began. ?You coming to supper or?? a muffled explosion, accompanied by a gentle shaking of the ground cut her off. Master Ti sighed as the separatist attack again approached the temple, and the students. She knew that it could withstand most things that would be thrown at it and that the army of clones would destroy the rest, but she was disturbed by the principle of working in a building being bombed.
Saul waved Kath on, pretending to be adjusting his bootstraps, and hung behind as his class walked on. Once he was sure they were out of earshot he continued, but took a different corridor leading to the main gate. By use of the force, and by clambering through a window, he managed to get out of the temple unseen, as he had done many times before.

 

NX 4425 slammed a fresh power pack into his DC-15A blaster rifle. Pulling it to his shoulder he pointed it approximately at the army of droids advancing across the plateau and squeezed the trigger, not releasing it until the new pack was also depleted. Two stories beneath him, about a hundred meters away the advancing horde was being peppered with blue streaks from all sides. Thousands of battle droids marched in step, not caring about the merciless firepower and unable to damage their dug in and armored opponents.
Against such a horde, a carpet of enemies, there was no need to aim. NX 4425 watched as his next volley impacted. Blasting heads from torsos, torsos from limbs and landing metal skeletons to the floor left, right and centre, covered in blaster scoring and blast damage.
The damage from the droids increased as they approached their target, the jedi temple. An explosion in the sky rocked the buildings as the V-wing starfighters brought down the last gunship. It crashed amongst the droid army, crushing dozens of them beneath it. The fighters strafed the droids once as they passed before veering off to engage another target in another part of the city. With the resultant explosions, the remaining droids broke formation and ran to cover where they huddled and fired random blasts at the defenders.
A laser cannon hit rocked the building and NX 4425 saw three of his men go down. A platoon of federation tanks had formed at the other side of the plateau and open fired on any clone troopers they saw. Under the cover of the superior firepower a second horde began to advance. Lead by the rolling forms of droidekas and supported by crab droids, NX 4425 knew this wave would be much tougher.
The clone commander activated his comlink ?Target the destroyers, don?t let them deploy.? The continuous streams of fire were reduced to carefully aimed bursts as NX 4425?s men acknowledged his call. The rolling forms were hard to hit on account of their high speed and small profile but the hours of drill came into affect and soon all the destroyer droids were smoking piles of scrap.
NX 4425 issued his next order. ?Pepper the droids, missiles target the Muckrakers, I?ll try to get air support to deal with the AATs.?
He looked up; to be sure his orders were being followed. A missile impacted on the processing unit of the most forward crab droid. As it collapsed another behind it lost both front legs to more rockets. His orders were being obeyed. The return fire was brutal. The sound of death cries filled the comm lines as Laser cannons and hundreds of blasters shot at the source of the missiles. Clones ducked for cover as twenty droids targeted each, pinning them behind walls or machinery. The clone?s fire was reduced as they tried to find space to fire without falling prey to a red blaster bolt. At the sound of heavy foot falls and of buzzing from the other side of the plateau NX 4425 risked a glance over the parapet that was his life line. He cursed.
A homing Spider droid was moving into position near the AATs and a swarm of flying droids were making a beeline for him. He fired a burst at them, hitting several but only causing one to fall, burning to the ground. He launched himself away from the wall, skidding on his back and firing as the rest alighted on the parapet. Another two went down. There were seven left. As they raised their arm mounted blasters as his power pack ran out. Unable to fire he charged at them but he knew he would never reach them before he was cut down by their fire.
The splutter of blaster fire was accompanied by a snap-hiss off to the right. As the deadly bolts flew at NX 4425, a small figure launched himself in a forward flip above him, a blue blade of energy swinging down inches from the clone?s helmet and swatting three bolts into the ground. Saul landed to NX 4425?s left, sweeping his lightsabre up in front, blocking the rest of the shots. Surprised by Saul?s sudden appearance, the droids hesitated, stepping back, looking at one another and eyeing the lightsabre. After several seconds one of th

 

?Commander NX 4425,? came the cold voice over the comm. ?Execute order sixty six. All jedi are now enemies of the republic.
?All of them sir??
?Yes commander. They are traitors; they attempted to assassinate the supreme chancellor. You will lead your company into the jedi temple. They must all die.
?Sir??
?These orders come from the chancellor himself, commander, are you questioning them??
?No sir, very good sir. When is the attack to commence??
?Within the hour. The chancellor is sending his loyal jedi Lord Vader to assist and lead you.?
?Very good sir.?

 

All noise in the dinning hall ceased as the door banged open and Master Ti ran in to the room. Through the open door, blaster fire could be heard clearly. Too clearly. It was from inside the temple.
?Tyron,? shouted the Jedi master, addressing one of the elder apprentices. ?Get all the others back to their rooms, now!?
?Master, what?s happening??
?Is it the droids??
?How many??
?What are???
?Now, to your rooms now!?
Saul was up and running before anyone could say anything. If there really were droids in the temple he had to get away quickly. He had to hide. They could not find him. He was out of the hall and round the corner before anyone else was even close.

Two more of his men were cut down from reflected fire as the jedi was backed into a corner. One of the companies most capable marksmen got to close and suddenly was in two halves, the jedi already a good four meters from his remains. NX 4425 sidestepped a reflected bolt and moved round to get behind the jedi. Sheltering behind a pillar NX 4425 reloaded his rifle, discarding his half spent power pack with a flick of his wrist that sent it skittering towards the jedi. The jedi back flipped over the small black object without seeing it and sent it flying at the clone troopers without touching it. He seemed surprised when it didn?t explode, but more so when one of NX 4425?s blaster bolts struck him in the back. The jedi stumbled, then blocked only one of the three shots sent at him by various clones. With the last of his energy he through his lightsabre, managing to guide it into two troopers before he died. NX 4425?s men didn?t stop firing for at least ten seconds after that.
NX 4425 regarded the eight men that remained of his thirty strong platoon. He could understand the waste of ammunition. He had seen too many miracles from jedi, on his side and now, after their treachery, to put anything past them, although as far as he was concerned, once you were dead, you were dead. But it had cost him seven men when, after seeing a jedi take a shot to the face. He had turned his men away, only for the jedi to attack them in the rear. They had been saved by the remaining loyal force user, Darth Vader, who had explained about jedi mind tricks making you see things that weren?t real
As three more jedi, a human female, a twi?lek male and a wookie, whose gender he could not divine, appeared from a room that had just been checked, NX 4425 found himself wishing for salvation by Vader again. Not that it stopped him raising his blaster to fight his own way out.
granted commander
The female jedi twisted her lightsabre in a whirlwind of emerald death. Blaster bolts were deflected effortlessly, with a block that was also a strike. NX 4425 was down to seven men. The wookie charged forwards, attracting the majority of fire. Two bolts lanced past his guard, burning fur and flesh, but the wookie didn?t slow, a howl of anger signaled the end of three more clones, by lightsabre, tooth and claw. The twi?lek did not draw his lightsabre, he clenched his teeth. The clone to NX 4425?s right was lifted bodily from the ground and flung head first at the wall with enough force to dent it. It was a tribute to his training that he was still firing at the jedi when he made contact. NX 4425 and his three remaining men backed into a corner as the jedi closed in. NX 4425 had never thought he would die defending Coruscant, especially from traitors within.
From behind the jedi, a black blur, a figure moving at inhuman speed, appeared. Instantly it sprouted a blue lightsabre blade, and the twi?lek jedi was staring in shock at the burning hole in his torso. The other two turned on it, and only when, with apparent ease, he one handedly blocked a strike from the wookie, did Anakin Skywalker slow enough to be seen.
The female aimed a strike at him from the right, but he jumped, changing direction in mid air, carrying himself over and around the wookies lightsabre, landing behind her. An upwards slash ended her life and, side stepping forwards, he plunged his lightsabre into the wookies

 

DQ 8360 laughed as he gunned down the two jedi in the room, neither was more than five. Turning he stepped back into the corridor, his smile concealed behind his helmet. Facing him was a boy in jedi robes, lightsabre drawn but not ignited.
?Hi, I?m Saul, I?ve come to help.? said the boy. ?Where are the droids??

Unlike the droids he had fought with Nix, Clones didn?t fall apart when surprised. Fortunately, neither did Saul. He leaned left, the clone?s first blast scoring the wall behind where his head had been. His half ignited lightsabre blocked the second, and by the third he was in a rhythm.

DQ 8360?s smile faded as the boy advanced. He back pedaled, still firing, as the blue blade scythed ever closer to his face. The Boy jumped, a downwards slash opening up DQ 8360?s blaster rifle, and spinning in the air to perform the killing blow. But it never came. The stun bolt had hit the boy in the chest, causing him to fall painfully to the ground. DQ 8360?s commander approached from where he had fired. He stopped short when he recognized his victim. His face turned the tone of the helmet that hid it.

Saul fought his way back to consciousness, fighting through the pain in his side and the headache from when he had hit the ground. Not that he remembered that yet. Memory was one of the faculties that was blocked by pain. Others included speech, movement and pretty much everything else. He heard a mumbling, probably voices, but he couldn?t make out the language. Pushing the pain into the back of his head, he tried to get his bearings. It didn?t take too long for him to realize he was kneeling on a hard surface, and that he couldn?t move his hands from behind him. A while after that he found he could understand the word that were being said, they were in fact in basic. It took his several seconds and a great deal of effort to keep up with the conversation. He recognized Nix?s voice.
?We should shoot him. Our orders said no prisoners.?
?He?s still a boy,? said another voice, also Nix?s. ?He?s not even a full jedi.?
?That doesn?t chance our orders,? said the first Nix, ?no prisoners is no prisoners, you know the penalty for breaking orders, and these come from the top. From the chancellor himself. You?ll be demoted at least, and that?s if the don?t have you sho??
?I know how it works,? snapped the second voice, ?I?m the commander around here private, or had you forgotten that.?
?No, Sir.? said the first voice, emphasizing the title of respect until it became a thing of mockery.
NX 4425 turned away from DQ 8360 as blaster fire came from the door way. TL 6992 back-pedaled into the room as a civilian with a blaster charged through.
?Save the jedi,? he screamed shooting TL 6992 in the chest. The green blaster bolt skimmed off his breastplate before the fanatic was cut to pieces by the return fire from the two clones. TL 6992 contemptuously kicked the corpse, rubbing the bruise where he had been hit.
?commander.? said a metallic voice from behind him. NX 4425 turned and saw DQ 8360 holding a comlink, his helmet under his arm, nasty smirk plating about his lips. NX 4425 noticed that he hadn?t bothered to ready his rifle in case there were more fanatics. DQ 8360 threw the com to NX 4425 who caught it and, after a resigned sigh, lifted it to his mouth.
?NX 4425 hear sir,? he said, as was expected of him.
?I hear that you have a prisoner, commander,? said the sneering voice of a man with military power but no battle field experience. ?Pray why??
?He is a boy sir, a student, I thought he might be easier to interrogate than a grown jedi? NX 4425 held his breath, hoping the officer would not see through him. There was a pause.?
?You thought wrong commander. We have no need to interrogate any jedi. You will execute the prisoner immediately or I shall order your subordinate to take control.?
?Yes sir, very good sir.?
NX 4425 cut the connection. He was relived that he hadn?t been accused of jedi sympathizing. If anyone found out he would be demoted, dishonored, and almost certainly executed. The same would

 

Saul tensed as he heard the blaster, he had clamped his eyes firmly shut. He fell slowly on his side, and knew he was dead. There was no way Nix could have missed him, not from this range. Not from ten times this range. As the cold spread throughout his body, he contemplated that, there was a lot less pain than he would have expected.
DQ 8360?s smirk vanished off his face, replaced instead, by a blaster bolt. TL 6992, despite his battle training and experience, hadn?t realized what was going on before he too took a shot to the head. Nix dropped his blaster and ran to Saul
How long would death take, or was he already dead? Saul?s eyes snapped open as he felt armored hands lift him back up to his knees, as if he weighed no more than a repulsorsled. In a second he saw Nix standing over him. In another he noticed the other two clones lying dead, and that he didn?t have a mortal wound ,or even any wound at all. Warmth returned to his body even faster than it had left as he realized that he was alive.
? Nix, what have you done,? he cried out in a voice that was close to despair.
? I couldn?t shoot you Saul,? said the clone. ? You don?t deserve death.?
? But they?ll kill you for sure, disobeying a direct order, plus shooting two of your own. They?ll kill you.?
? I?ve faced death before Saul,? said Nix solemnly, ? and last time I only escaped because of some crazy awol jedi padawan.? Nix looked Saul in the eye. ? You Saul, you saved my life from those flying droids. I couldn?t let you die and I definitely couldn?t kill you.?

Jedi master Shaak Ti glanced again at the terminal interface on the temples main computer. The readout, however, still showed clones as friendly. She fell into the force, senescing all around her. Many jedi were dead. She had felt there deaths through the force, each more painful than the last, or so it seemed to her, until their deaths formed a swirling whirlpool of pain and despair, coursing through her mind and her body.
The battle, or slaughter, was going badly for the jedi. Clones were everywhere, in vast numbers. Eighty percent of the temple was under clone control, the only option left to her was escape. To get as many jedi out of the temple as possible.
The door to her left imploded, and three jedi hurried in, dragging a fourth between them. Blue blaster bolts erupted from the doorway, catching the fifth jedi, who had been covering the retreat, twice, and spattering the wall opposite with carbon burns. Shaak Ti sensed ten clones through the door advancing up the library. Emerging from the door faster than any clone could move, Shaak Ti was instantly among the white armored soldiers. Her lightsabre flashed as she moved amongst them, dispatching each with a calculated strike. They were all dead.
She sensed a jedi, the chosen one, moving deeper into the temple, towards the council chambers, a tight column of clones close behind him. She did not know why Anakin Skywalker was flying from the clones or why he move so slowly, at merely a fast walking pace. She could only conclude he was wounded, badly. He was also leading the clones to where the younglings were hidden, not that he could know that.
?Come,? she said to the jedi, ?The younglings are in danger.?
What she didn?t know was that Anakin was in the position of the column leader, and that the clones were in step behind him. She could have sensed it, have felt what was happening, but the death and pain, lead to anger, that clouded her judgment even as she fought to remain calm.

Kath had made a decision. With Liy on her shoulder she marched through corridors. Her exertions to hide Liy and herself had drained her, so she had to trust to luck that she wasn?t found. Liy was still bleeding, and she didn?t have instruction in healing wounds. She had to find a more advanced jedi to help her.
To her surprise she reached the turbo lifts without incident, but then her luck ran out. As the lift arrived, she sensed them, but didn?t realize until the door open and she saw the four clones staring at her. With force aided reflexes, she

 

Saul cursed. The blast had taken out the cam. He rewound and froze the last image; his best friend, holding the broken body of the hot-headed, arrogant S?kytri, that had been their friend for eight years. One look at his face told Nix all he needed to know. He replaced his helmet and slammed another power cell into his rifle.

The door slide open with an ominous hiss, and Anakin Skywalker emerged from the jedi council chamber. Shaak Ti?s relief faded, as she saw the look in his eye, and the maimed bodies of younglings behind him. She saw him, and she saw the truth. She flew at him, lightsabre swinging. He casually parried her intricate string of strikes one handed. Then the other jedi came to her aid, and Skywalker was forced back. He parried low and high, faster than could have been believed, the brought his lightsabre round for a strike.
Master Ti saw her opportunity. Anakin was open as he struck. She aimed a thrust at his heart, and paused.
For a second. For a tenth of a second. For a thousandth of a second. She remembered fighting with Anakin, at his side at Kamino. He had been a good man. But that was gone now. She thrust forward, her lightsabre sailing towards his chest.
But she was too late. Anakin recovered from the strike, parried her desperate attack, pivoted three hundred and sixty degrees and ran her through. Shaak Ti, jedi master, stood upright for another second, then collapsed to the floor.

Kath ran. She clutched her injured arm to her chest, tears streaming down her face. Her lightsabre was gone, along with two of her fingers, and there was a platoon of clones on her tale. Her breath came in short sharp bursts. The pounding of feet mixed with the pounding of her heart to make a horrible din, far louder than was technically possible. The very floor seemed to vibrate with each step she took. Kath ran.
Finally she tumbled through the final door, hope turning to icy despair. The speeder was gone. Disciplined footsteps outside the door forced her into action; she scrambled behind the only available cover, but was too dazed to recognize the explosive hazard symbol on the side. Then whatever protection she had from the fuel barrels was lost as a clone speeder rose into view outside.
The pilot hefted one of the shorter clone blasters and sent a volley in her direction. The large windows shattered. By some miracle, the blaster bolts all missed, carrying over her shoulder into the clones entering the room. One wasn?t fast enough to avoid the lethal energy.

Nix?s next flurry was more accurate, picking two of his former allies from behind cover. A total of seven were incapacitated before the power cell in the DC-15s ran dry. Saul leapt from the speeder as Nix smashed through the remaining glass and landed it. He slaughtered the first clone he reached, taking a blaster bolt on his saber as he did so. Two more closed in on him. In a single move he slashed their legs out from under them, decapitating them both with the reverse swing. The other clones backpedaled making them easy targets for Nix, wielding two DC-15s?s simultaneously.
Saul parried a volley on the move. One shot clipped his shoulder but he didn?t notice. He force pushed the fuel tank into the clones, which would have left Kath vunrable if Nix hadn?t shot the barrel, igniting the fuel and the remaining clones. Kath stumbled to her feet, hobbled to Saul and collapsed, into his arms. One look told Saul she was in shock.
?Come on Kath,? he said gently, ?into the speeder.? He helped her suit action to his words as Nix moved to the doorway, covering the passage outside. Saul pulled the restraining belt over her and clipped it in place. The sense of violent, rather than the sound of firing drew his head round to where Nix was trading shots with some unknown adversary in the corridor.
?Go,? shouted the clone across the room. ?I can hold them for a while.?
?Yeah, right,? muttered Saul under his breath. But he hit the activation key on the dashboard, and started configuring the nav system. Beside him, Kath had fainted.
?It was probably for the bes

 

Saul had skipped back into the room, and dragged Nix through the door with the force, nanoseconds before multiple blue blaster bolts tore through the air behind them.
?They?ve found us,? said Nix grimly, ?they shot on site too, so they must know of my deception. We?re trapped.?
?They?re blocking the only exit,? said Saul. ?We need to get past them.?
?There are at least thirty of them, it?s impossible.?
?Impossible is only a point of view,? Saul quoted one of master Yoda?s more annoying maxims. ?Cover me.?

Squad 13b advanced down the hallway cautiously, aware they were up against another clone, one who had been through the same training as they had and more battles than most of them. A series of blue energy bolts appeared from ahead, and the squad took cover, returning fire at the approximate source. That was why they didn?t see the lightsabre carving through the wall, and UV 3861, or realize they were under attack until Saul had hacked his way through four other troopers.
Nix took advantage of the confusion to break cover. He sprinted forward, closing the distance between himself and squad 13b, Saul?s safety first in his mind. He peppered the clones from his dual wielded DC-15s?s, and took some pride in breaking his kill per second record. With the entire squad decimated, Nix relaxed. It was the third mistake he had ever made in a combat situation, and was to be his last. Blaster fire stitched a trail of holes up his back, and he fell to his knees, gasping.
Everything slowed. Nix knew who had shot him. Squad 13a had been approaching from the other direction, and he hadn?t anticipated them. A battle droid error, as his company called it. A mistake he should not have made. He saw the shock turn to rage on Saul?s face, saw his lips form the shout, but didn?t hear the scream.
?Noooooooooooooo!?
Saul leapt over Nix?s collapsed form; he knew from the force that the clone who had saved his life was gone. He threw himself at Nix?s killers and in his anger forgot all he had been taught. His blade strokes were devastating. He fought not with the finesse of his training but with the strength of his hate. Nothing could stand before him.
As he killed, Saul lost sight of his opponents, though he could still fight them. Instead he saw the training room. He saw himself and Kath battling. He saw a drone firing training lasers at his other self, and he recognized his vulnerability.
Then the vision was shattered as three black agonies sprouted from his back, and he collapsed to the floor. He fought with himself, forcing out the anger and hate, focusing instead on the people who loved him and that he loved. Then he surrendered to the darkness. This internal battle took hours, but lasted seconds.