Star Wars Rogue Knight - Chapter 12

Location: Base camp “Secura”, Imperial Jungle training grounds, Felucia; 12 years post-Yuuzhan Vong Invasion.

He was once known only as a designation: CC-2224, but those times were long past. For decades, he’d proudly carried the name he had chosen for himself.

Cody’s upper lip twitched with amusement as he watched an uncomfortable looking reporter trying to sit calmly across his desk. He was familiar with her, the “black sheep” from a family he considered friends. She was creating a series of holovids about the conflict that shaped the galaxy as it was today: the Clone Wars.

He took a sip from a steaming cup of Caf, and gave a brief nod to a small tray covered with refreshments, prepared by his frighteningly efficient aide. “Help yourself, Miss Solo. When you manage to calm your nerves, you can begin with your questions.”

She flushed.

“Before you ask, no, I am not nearly as bad as your father claims me to be. How’s the old pirate, anyway?” the veteran wondered aloud.

“He’s fine, General!” exclaimed the girl. “My father sends his regards.”

“I really doubt that he used exactly those words, Miss Solo, but we digress. You wanted to know about the Clone Wars from someone who had been in that conflict since its beginning. So ask away,” said the aging man.

She took a deep breath, before asking her first question.

“General Cody, you are one of the few remaining first-generation clones. Please, tell us how you view the purpose you were created for?”

“This again,” he grumbled. It was the same question that was asked every time by the post-Clone War generation, as if he and his brothers hadn’t given them the same answer again, and again, and again. He deigned to answer anyways. “My brothers and I were given our purpose from ‘birth’. We were proud to have been soldiers of the Republic. We were content.

“Being excellent soldiers made us happy,” he smiled broadly. “As you can see, that’s something I still enjoy.” Even though he wasn’t too pleased with his current ȧssignment. He had lost a game of Pazaak with Rex and Veers, which dumped him here for two months. They were overseeing the training of Armored divisions on Corellia, while he was stuck on an unpleasant jungle planet, trying to impress his hard won knowledge about warfare upon ungrateful green recruits.

“The clones have always been, and always will be, proud to be reliable and professional, the very best at our jobs. At the time of the Clone Wars, we had no complaints… Our attitudes changed when the General revealed the mental conditioning that we were unknowingly subjected to, and the expiration date that was placed on our lives by Palpatine.”

She glanced at the notes on her wrist mounted computer. “I’m sorry to interrupt, the ‘General’ is none other than Lord Delkatar Veil, correct?”

Cody nodded with a wan smile.

“Correct. For those of us, who fought with him in the Clone Wars, he’ll always be ‘General’. But you didn’t come all this way to talk about him, you could have met him back at the capitol.”

“I’m sorry, I only asked for the sake of our audience who may not be aware of who the ‘General’ was. Back on topic, speaking of Palpatine, what are your thoughts on Order 66 and the fate of the Old Jedi Order? Your part in those events, as well as those of your friend General Rex, is a controversial topic.”

Cody stared at his desk for long minutes. Finally, he raised his head and looked calmly at her. “This is a loaded question, Miss Solo. My brothers and I have a complex relationship with the Jedi.”

“Well, your friend did marry a Jedi, after the war. It doesn’t get more complicated than that.”

Cody snorted with amusement at the thought of Rex and his wife. “Yes, Rex and his wife are a funny complication.” Lucky bastard, they were together on Corellia, he with his ȧssignment, and she helping with the reconstruction of the Green Temple.

“Now, in order to give you a comprehensive answer to Order 66, you need to know a lot of the background leading to the final weeks of the war. The seeds of that disaster were sown long before the creation of the Galactic Army of the Republic. Palpatine had it planned for a very long time. I shudder to think what would have happened to us all if it was not for the sweeping changes caused by the General’s entry into the war.” Cody paused for a moment to take another sip of his beverage.

“Order 66: one of the many contingencies we were taught to memorize and obey since the cradle. The exact details are public record nowadays, so I don’t need to recite it. The very broad gist of it was that in an event that the Jedi turned against the Republic, we were to respond with lethal force. No prisoners were to be taken.”

“But, obeying such orders…” muttered Solo.

Cody shrugged.

“The General once said something about things like this. It all depends on who won. We won, so our troops are guilty at worst of a few ‘regrettable actions’ needed to expedite the end of the war, saving lives. If we lost, well…” He shrugged again.

“As you know, the GAR units apprehended their Jedi commanders, but many of them refused to gun down their prisoners without a very good reason They disobeyed direct orders, which was only possible because of the additional protocols added after that mess on Coruscant. The first one, I mean.”

“You’re referring to the ȧssault on the Jedi Temple in the opening months of the war.” She, as well as anyone who studies history, knew what the general was talking about.

“That’s right. At the time I had just finished my training and received promotion to Clone Marshal. I was on board The Negotiator, General Kenobi’s first flagship, when the attacks occurred. We arrived on Coruscant soon after they began.”

Cody stared through the young woman, remembering the past.

“It was a kriffing mess. The Senate under enemy control with most of the governing body inside, attacks with Blue Shadow on a spaceport, two military bases, as well as GAR High Command, and of course, the event that changed the outcome of Order 66.”

“You know, until that day, I didn’t believe that a contingency plan like Order 66 was necessary, especially after the time I served under General Kenobi. Within days of talking with him, I knew that if the rest of the Jedi were anything like Kenobi, there was no way in the Nine Corellian hells that the Order would ever betray the Republic,” Cody took a deep breath and smiled sadly. “Now we all know that what I believed was naive.”

“Given the circumstances, the General was the acting Supreme Commander of all Republic forces. What Windu, ” Cody spat the name, “tried to do that day was the catalyst for what was to come. I remember that moment clearly even today, more than six decades later.”

“I was on board one of several Lartys, along with most of the Negotiator’s ground troop compliment, flying towards the Senate building to help establish the cordon around it. We knew virtually nothing about what was happening at the time, except that at least a few hundred commando droids had taken residence in there. I was rechecking the plans, thinking on how to storm the damn building if it came to that, when one of the men I had left to monitor the situation in the Jedi Temple got my attention.”

“Windu was attempting to arrest The General on trumped up charges. There were about twenty five of my brothers ready to protect him, against scores of Jedi. We all know how powerful the General is nowadays, but facing so many Jedi all at once?! It made me angry and desperate. There we were, under attack, with the Senate as hostages or worse, and that Windu was losing it.” The old general shook his head in exasperation.

“By then we knew that the Jedi were nothing like the near divine beings from the stories that were told around the galaxy. We fought and died with them, mostly died in those awful first months. I know that it isn’t fair to place all the blame for their blunders on their shoulders. Both the Chancellor and the Senate wanted them as generals and commanders, despite the fact that they had no military training whatsoever. Although, command came naturally to some and they became splendid leaders, people like Kenobi and Skywalker, those we were proud to serve under.”

“What about the then general Veil?”

Cody chuckled, good-naturedly at the question.

“You can hardly argue that he lacked training. Hell, The General was the most experienced military leader in the whole war, and in the conflicts that followed. Granted, he did make his share of mistakes, but none of them were born of inexperience.”

“Where was I? Ah, the ‘incident’ at the Temple. It delivered a severe blow to our confidence in the Jedi. If ever there were a more clean-cut situation for implementing Order 66, I am not aware of it. Generals Kenobi and Yoda managed to defuse the situation, but the damage was already done. We would never trust the Jedi like we did before. That day in the Temple set the stage for everything that followed, at least as far as the Old Jedi Order is concerned.”

“We didn’t know it then, but those were the days when the future of us clones was decided. Almost nobody thought that the Clones were an army of what amounted to slaves. We definitely didn’t see ourselves as such, our mental conditioning at the hands of the Kaminoans was that good. That brings us to the greatest betrayal to my brothers and I.”

“Our lifespan. We were bred for the war and expected to quietly croak afterwards, unless we were given a gene treatment to let us age like normal people. Heh. The General put that to shame.”

“The Ashara Option,” said Solo.

“Yes. A few geniuses under his payroll produced a treatment that not only works for us clones, but for most near human species out there. It nearly doubled a man’s natural lifespan. It’s the reason why I am looking so good, despite the hair.” he joked.

“But back to the Purge,” interjected the journalist.

“Right. The only thing that stopped us from following Order 66 when it was issued were contradictory orders given by General Veil. Intead of executing them, he wanted us to attempt to apprehend the Jedi in the event of Order 66.”

“Just as you did, by placing General Kenobi under arrest on Mandalor,” she said. The young Solo frowned at Cody and began again. “But, that doesn’t change the facts. In the last week of the war, you led your Fifth Sky Corps along with Rex’s 501st against the Jedi Temple.”

“The one event that made me infamous across the galaxy.” Cody declared. His expression became sad as he remembered. “We had a real chance for peace. If it wasn’t for the hardliners amongst the Jedi Order, not only would the Clone Wars have ended before one of the bloodiest battles of the whole conflict could take place, but the next war could have been averted. Not to mention that without the actions of the Jedi, the Republic might have remained mostly whole.”

Solo interrupted again. “Even now, the purge of the Jedi Temple and the later manhunt that wiped out the remains of the OJO are one of the most controversial subjects in the galaxy.”

“That it is. We believed with Palpatine gone, the ceasefire with the CIS was about to be forged into permanent peace. But we all know how that ended. At the time, very few Senators were fit for duty, so for all intents and purposes the General was the government.”

“Despite what his detractors claim, the General was convinced by both his wife and Senator Amidala to give the Republic one last chance to reform itself. He had even announced a date for general elections so the Senate could start working again so it can clean up its mess!”

“But what did the Jedi do?!” Cody struck his desk with a fist. “Those fools tried to stage a coup! You’ve seen the recordings. They decided that the General had corrupted the remaining Senators, and the higher echelons of GAR, and tried to take us out. You know who those traitors allied themselves with! They gave us no choice!”

“Yes, this is the version of the events that most of the galaxy accepted after all evidence was brought to light.” interjected Solo.

“Then, that led to the battle of Corellia, where the Green Temple was taken out from orbit. While General Veil was commanding what was to become the last battle of the war, we were sent to subdue the Jedi at the Temple on Coruscant. We were led by people who had left the Order and tried their best to minimize the loss of life. You know how that ended… It was the last chapter of the Clone Wars, but it led to another civil war a year later.” Cody trailed off and closed his eyes.

=RK=

LAAT crash site, near the Senate Building, Coruscant; The present

The first thing Cody felt was dull pain across his whole body. He cracked his eyes open and carefully looked around. Someone’s hand was covering most of his visor, but he was able to see his surroundings: the troop compartment of a LAAT, buried under a pile of silent clone troopers. He shook his head, clearing it from the strange, vision-like dream, and concentrated on the task at hand – getting himself and his men out of the crashed gunship.

He heard something arrive outside, so he grabbed the buŧŧ of a blaster on the back of an unconscious soldier, switched off the safety, and pointed it at the side door.

“Do you think they made it?” asked a familiar voice, identical to Cody’s own.

“Don’t be ridiculous. As if something as minor as this can do in the commander. Let’s get the boss out of there.”

The door was forced open to the sound of tortured metal, then a clone glanced inside. “The commander is alive and conscious, but we have wounded in here. Bring the medics forward.”

“Well done, sergeant. What took out the Larty?” asked Cody.

“A sniper, sir. After we deployed our own she’s been keeping her head down,” answered the clone.

Cody’s comms hissed to life.”This is General Veil. Give me a sit-rep on the situation at the Senate.”

He tried to pull out his left hand, where the device was located but was unable to do so. His limb refused to obey, and he felt acute pain from it.

‘This is getting better and better,’ he thought.

Phase 10: Hostage Crisis

=RK=

Part 1

East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

Anakin had dealt with almost two thirds of the charges, when an angry Bane called one of his minions. The precise manipulation needed to disarm the bombs, combined with the novel way of connecting with the Force, had taken its toll on the young Jedi.

Then his time ran out.

Something happened that had caused Bane lose his patience. He could hear it in the voice carrying from a comm, mounted on the right forearm of a weequay mercenary.

“Turloq, round up a few Senators,” Bane addressed a merc. “We’ll make an example of them in front of the cameras and show it to the Republic. We have more than enough of the fat bastards as bargain chips,” grunted Bane. “Also bring that girl from Naboo. She’s one of the more popular ones. If they don’t meet our demands, she’ll be next.”

“Yes, boss! Right away!” Turloq responded.

After speaking with Bane, the cutthroat gave Skywalker a wary look. The fire in the Jedi’s eyes made the merc take an involuntary step back. That look promised him a slow and painful end. He shuddered. There was a growing sense of danger in the room. The hostages felt it too, and became uneasy. Well, more than they already were given their situation.

The rest of Bane’s men present in the room looked around carefully, as if searching for invisible danger. Only the droids remained stoic.

Turloq stared at the Jedi. Something wasn’t right. He felt like he was in the presence of an apex predator, hungry for his flesh.

The mercenaries looked at each other. One of them, a disgruntled Trandoshan, grinned, showing an impressive array of needle sharp teeth. It was unclear whether he was braver than his companions, or just plain dumber.

“You heard the boss, boys,” grunted the voice of the oversized lizard. “Uh, which was the female Bane wanted?” He asked after glancing in the direction of the Senators, where Mon Mothma and two other women had gathered around Amidala.

Turloq wasn’t thinking straight. He pointed at the correct Senator. Too late, he figured out that doing so was a mistake. The last one that he’d ever make.

The Jedi gave him a disturbing smile.

=RK=

Anakin’s body had frozen rigid the moment he heard Bane’s words. On the outside, everything but his eyes was a mask of serenity. Inside however, it was another story. The passion with which Skywalker was channeling the Force was going wild.

Pure rage seathed deep within the Jedi, like a raging sea. ‘Make an example of my Padme?!’. The single thought ran rampant through his mind, putting everything else on the back-burner. He won’t allow it! None of these wretched fools would lay a finger on her!

But, he didn’t have a lightsaber. What would happen to Padme if he were cut down by blaster fire? His fears, and his anger… They strengthened him.

The look in Anakin’s eyes became cold and harder than durasteel. If there were someone present with the ability to see, one could watch as the Force itself pulsed angrily around him, his emotions made manifest.

For the young Jedi, it felt strange; similar to what happened at the Tusken camp where his mother died. He was aware of the darkness surrounding him, of the anger feeding it, but this time he didn’t go into a mindless rage.

He could feel Padme standing behind him. She blazed like a beacon in the darkness threatening to engulf his mind. She was the anchor that let him retain control in the face of the emotions to which he had fallen prey to once before.

The Dark Side. It offered him the power to save Padme. He only had to let go of his control, and drink deeply from its tainted well.

Anakin struggled with his passions, the emotions he was taught to ignore ever since he joined the Jedi Order. He was supposed to lock them down and throw them away, as if they were something worthless, that he should be ashamed of. In that regard, he was a terrible Jedi, but he didn’t care.

His wife, the woman he loved more than life itself was right there, next to him, in mortal danger. The same wife he was prohibited to marry, just as he was forbidden to love. But that wasn’t something he would ever accept. Padme was his light, one of the few things that made his life worth living.

So he decided. Or perhaps Skywalker only acknowledged the choice he had made, when he heeded an advice by a man from the past.

When one of the mercenaries pointed straight at his Padme, he smiled grimly at the man. Anakin’s mind was made up, and for the first time in ages it was clear.

Skywalker decided to stop hiding and acknowledge the truth. His fellow Jedi would do whatever they believed to be right, and he would do the same. There was no longer a doubt in his mind where his future lied. Next to his wife.

Anakin felt the Force shift. The Dark Side was surrounding him like a warm cloak, whispering seduction he no longer paid attention to. Instead of letting go of his control, he grabbed at it with all his will. A tremor went through the Force when he consciously commanded the Dark Side for the first time. The power he felt was incredible, tempting. But he fought to keep his mind clear.

“I will not lose control again!” he snarled so quietly that no one heard him.

The raging sea within his heart roared to life again. This was only the second time he had ever felt this. This time, Anakin was the one ruling his emotions.

Skywalker surged to his feet and the Force rose with him.

Turloq was the first to feel the Force unleashed. He felt an almighty fist snap his bones, a sensation that might have been pain, and finally nothing as his body crunched against a wall.

The people stood bewildered, as the droids raised their weapons at the clustered Senators.

The Republic’s governing body was terrified by the oppressive feeling of doom, and furious with General Skywalker for risking their lives, and yet hopeful for rescue. Senator Amidala simply trusted Anakin.

Skywalker knew nothing of their thoughts. In that instant, his mind was in overdrive. He was channeling an immense amount of the Force, and knew that if his plan didn’t work they were likely dead. Thanks to Veil’s suggestions, Anakin had more power at the tips of his fingers than ever, but was untrained in its use. He’d be exhausted soon, so he wasted no time and acted.

The mercs and droids were slammed by powerful telekinetic waves. While the machines were sturdy enough to remain mostly intact, the men pulped against the walls.

Anakin ġrȯȧnėd as he drew even more of the Force to himself.

He threw a barrier of Force energies between the hostages and the remaining active explosives. He was just in time. Debris wildly scattered through the laser trip wires attached to the bombs.

The world ended in light and thunder. Skywalker screamed when his barrier was hit by the focused power of thirty two shaped charges. The explosion was far greater than the one he had shielded against on Aayla Secura’s flagship. Anakin would be dead without his new strength.

He was able to stop the blossoming explosions. Mostly. His shield buckled and was partially breached in the few places where blasts from multiple charges met. Pieces of molten shrapnel and a few thin geysers of flames spurted through his barrier. Some Senators screamed and fell to the ground, scythed down by unlucky hits.

Anakin shouted in denial when something hit the left side of Padme’s face, and she fell to the ground with a spray of blood. He saw red, and the Force itself screamed as if sharing the agony slashing his heart.

=RK=

Chancellor Office, Senate Building, Coruscant

Palpatine was in his comfortable seat, with his hands crossed over his desk. He looked calm, a testament to his skills as a politician. The Sith Master plan, the conclusion to which generations of his kind had worked towards, was falling apart. If he were not furious, he would have found it amusing. Here he was, while his grand design, which was build upon the plans made by his predecessors, was being obliterated by a single man who had appeared from nowhere.

With Dooku and Grievous temporarily out of the picture, very few knew that Darth Sidious was the real leader of the CIS. None of them were aware of his identity as Palpatine, which was turning out to be troublesome.

The Chancellor scowled at the wall of his sealed inner sanctum. Outside, a bunch of droids and some bounty hunters were trying to breach the entrance. The Sith smirked. While he was loath to show his true abilities, a bit of subtle manipulation with the Force, and all the efforts of those fools were for naught. He drove the insects clawing at his door out of his mind, and thought about how he could salvage something of this mess. With his two most important pawns within the CIS out of the picture, Palpatine’s plans were unraveling at the seams.

The last thing he heard before all comms were jammed, was that those fools had used the Blue Shadow on Coruscant. The City-planet was the worst possible place for such a virus to be unleashed, but the number of casualties was not important. What mattered was how the war was going to escalate. Oh, that would give a myriad of opportunities for someone as devious as him, but it would at the same time sow too much chaos in the conflict.

Sidious always knew that despite being in charge of both sides, he wouldn’t be able to control everything, even before these new complications were added to the mix. The future was uncertain for even someone like him.

Sidious relaxed and let his senses wander. He felt Skywalker diving deep within the Force and using his passions. The Chancellor smiled. At least on that front, his plans were going strong. It was good that the Jedi of this day and age did not know how to handle a young boy. They were the ones who sowed the seeds of Skywalker’s eventual fall, Palpatine merely nurtured those thorny vines, like a patient gardener.

Then his attention carefully drifted towards the Jedi Temple where he could sense men and women dieing. Splendid! The raid to release Dooku was underway!

It was all he could do not to cackle madly! The plan of that attack was straight from the legends of Dart Magnus, the man who pillaged that damn Temple many years ago.

Sidious sat contentedly, drinking the wine that was the essence of Jedi suffering when a wave of darkness like no other he had ever felt exploded from the Temple!

He jumped from his seat and started pacing. What was this?! It felt powerful, familiar.

Sidious closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He concentrated on the cause of the Dark side maelstrom, centered upon the Jedi Temple. He had to fight his way through the layers of shadows that blocked his sight, until he was able to glimpse the source of the Dark Side energies drowning the Jedi Temple.

To his total lack of surprise it was Delkatar Veil. But, of course! That man had to be in the center of his problems. He looked more carefully and frowned before the shadows gathered around the man and his sight was occluded again.

However, what he felt in the last moment before his observation was interrupted, was something quite shocking! That man was not merely an exceptionally powerful and talented Dark Jedi. On the contrary. Sidious was certain of it. He knew one of his kind when he really looked at him. Delkatar Veil was a Sith!

For one of handful moments in his life, Palpatine was truly confused. This was a development he had not planned for.

For a thousand years there were only two Sith, no more and no less. Today, those two were himself and Darth Tyranus. That was all!

Sidious had kept a close eye on his apprentice in order to avoid such a thing! He was reasonably sure that Dooku had not been the one to train Veil. Did the man find an ancient Sith Holocron? It was the most plausible explanation he could think of, and if it were true, then this new element was an unknown. That was dangerous, especially to a man such as Sidious who was accustomed to near omniscience.

Palpatine sat down, and pondered his options. The best outcome was that the attack on the Senate removed many of the senators, preferably those who were opposed to him, such as Skywalker’s wife, he thought with distaste. True Sith were beyond such weakness.

At least the troublesome girl would prove a splendid tool for turning Skywalker to the Dark Side, she and the Jedi in their blindness. Thanks to Skywalker’s “secret” marriage, he would soon be alone, and paranoid about anyone learning the truth. Once he was in such a state, the boy would be in a deliciously vulnerable position. Perfectly ripe for conversion.

But what to do about Veil? The younger man was powerful, there was no doubt about it. He had obviously learned a few tricks about disguising his true nature, just as Sidious had. However, the real danger was the shadow thrown through the currents of the Force. Somehow, Veil, and Sidious had no doubt that was him, had robbed the Dark Lord of the Sith of his insight into the future. While a sign of admirable amount of skill and power, this was not something that could be borne in the long term. One way or another, Veil had to be dealt with.

Palpatine wondered: with Dooku losing an arm, this was a good time to go searching for another apprentice. Perhaps one day, he could have Skywalker and Veil fight for that honor. To the death, of course!

Palpatine’s eyes widened and he bolted up. He was nearly deafened when the Force itself screamed in pain!

=RK=

Part 2

LAAT Gunship, on route to the Senate Building, Coruscant

I was resigned to the fact that the Jedi would be a major thorn in my side. Yoda slapped Windu down, but there were a lot of Knights and Padawans in the Great Hall that shared his sentiments. Their numbers were less than half of those still standing, and yet that was too many considering that I just fought a battle to help them.

I was going to give Yoda and Kenobi, as well as the moderate faction amongst the Jedi, a chance to clean up their mess before taking action. Unless I was provoked again. My patience for hostile elements of the Order was running thin.

At least I was able to send the Chiss woman I saved back to the Requiem. I expected her to be out for a few days. The healing I performed would have taken a lot of her.

I glanced to Ahsoka, who was riding in the same LAAT as me. The distraught padawan had a glum expression on her face. Yoda and Obi-Wan, while supportive of her attempts to dissuade Windu from making the biggest mistake in his life, were not too pleased with how she went about it. A padawan, shouting down council members was apparently a big no-no. At least they were not expelling her. Yet.

Perhaps it was because Windu had admitted that Dooku had managed to escape, and instead of going after him, the Vaapad master decided that I was the real threat. The looks that Yoda and Kenobi gave him were priceless, and now immortalized on holovid.

If the some of the Jedi were not turning against me, it would have been easier for me to admit that they had a very good case. Especially Mace. What happened in the Temple was a delicious irony, one which would warm my heart for a long time. After all, The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order himself, had supported me against my most vocal Jedi opponent. I did not have to do a thing to manipulate the little green fella either.

To be fair, I am a Sith, whose long term plans would see the Jedi Order in its current form dismantled. I had not decided what to do about the Republic in the long term, but it was a very real possibility that it would not serve my purposes, and would have to go. Time would tell what I would need to do.

I smirked. The Jedi were incredibly lucky that some other Sith was not thrown in this time. If another of my kind was propelled forward in time, and they had actual mastery over concealing their true motives with the Force, it would have been trivially easy to infiltrate the Republic military and subvert it from within. Hell, it’s what I did, but I was able to control my grudge against the Jedi Order. I was not going to destroy them unless they gave me a very good reason to do so… Windu almost did.

I stared through the sealed door of the transport with unseeing eyes. My mind had drifted elsewhere. The Jedi may never know what a bullet they dodged.

Darth Vael, the Sith, whose memories and powers I had. If he woke up in the past without me, he would have given them no mercy.

The part of me that came from Darth Vael was baying for their blood. What happened a few short minutes ago was a powerful reminder that the Jedi Order as it existed today, and my kind, could not co-exist in the long term. Not unless their world view changed dramatically, but I was not sure that even Yoda’s power within their organization was strong enough to force such a thing. I had to step up my plans where the Jedi were concerned, and I had to find a way to persuade the people I found worthy of conversion, away from the deeply flawed teachings of the Order.

But all that had to wait. Dealing with the mess of epic proportions at the Senate came first, and with the fallout of the CIS stunt a close second. I looked at Tano and smiled at her.

“Ahsoka, thank you for standing up for me back in the Temple,” I gave her a seated bow. “Without your passionate words, Windu might have done something that we all would regret.”

“Ah…” she stammered, and blushed at my praise. “You’re welcome, Delkatar.”

I stared at her. Nope! Nuh-huh. I was not going there! What is with teenage girls and dark, mysterious strangers, anyway!?

‘Concentrate on the situation at hand!’ I ordered myself. Right. The Senate.

I activated my comm link and spoke into it. “This is General Veil. Give me a sit-rep of the situation at the Senate.” I ordered.

A clone answered me few seconds later. “General, we’ve established perimeter around the building sir. Our observation teams could see groups of commando droids patrolling the outer halls of the Senate. ”

“Has clone marshal commander Cody arrived and taken command?” I asked. Kenobi told me that he had dispatched his soldiers to handle the Senate.

“Negative, sir. His transport was shot down.”

Da fuq?

“How did he manage that?” I asked incredulously. I had to remind myself that this was an especially unpleasant day, so I should not be surprised by such stuff happening.

“His LAAT was disabled by a sniper before crashing. A rescue party has been sent, and should be there any minute now.”

I shook my head. I had to check the LAAT’s specs. Those things were supposed to be tougher than that! The LAATs were able to make orbit to ground ȧssaults if needed. The sniper rifle used to down Cody’s transport might be something special, in which case I would love to get my hands on it. Or perhaps, that particular gunship was not built according to specs. If someone was neglecting or sabotaging my troops’ gear, I would have to look into it. I disliked the idea of dying to shoddy construction.

I was not dumb enough to say that the things can’t possibly become worse! Either way the universe decided to prove that point. I was less than a minute from the perimeter around the Senate, when I heard the Force itself scream. Moments later I could feel Anakin’s anguish through my bond with Ahsoka.

Pain, denial and surging fury. That was an explosive combination, especially for someone who was not trained to deal with this emotions.

“Master!” exclaimed Ahsoka, who was feeling the full brunt of his raging passions.

That boy was about to lose himself. Having Skywalker go on a rampage in the heart of the Senate was not something that flowed well with my plans. If the worst had happened and he really went off the deep end, I would find a way to use it to my advantage, but I preferred to avoid such a thing happening.

I called up the plans my clones were working on, and frowned. We did not have information about the enemy composition beyond the commando droids. Their numbers and locations were unknown. We did not know where the hostages were being held either, except Padme who was obviously at Anakin’s location on the east side of the building.

This was going to be ugly, but I did not see a good alternative. If Skywalker lost it, the CIS agents were liable to overreact and start killing hostages.

“All units, we are going in. Eliminate enemy forces holding the Senate and locate the where the hostages are being held. If practical rescue them, otherwise contain the areas where they are being held. Do not forget to keep your eyes open for ambushes and traps. Go! Go! Go!”

I ordered my pilot towards the East side of the building as fast as possible. The whɨnė of the LAAT’s engine increased and it darted towards the Senate.

=RK=

East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

The instant the shock-waves from the exploding charges dispersed, Anakin dropped his exhausted shield. The droids he had thrown at the walls were getting up, and more than a few still held blasters.

Skywalker glared at the commando droids and gave them all a taste of what he felt at that moment. All his fear and anger, he used them as fuel to draw even more from the Force.

The building itself ġrȯȧnėd as deep rents appeared in the metal floor and walls. Droids were torn asunder by invisible scythes, while others were simply wrenched into pieces by giant invisible hands.

Within seconds only the living remained in the Ballroom.

Anakin glared at his work and smiled thinly. The Jedi’s blue eyes showed a hint of yellow.

Then, Skywalker was on his knees panting. He could feel the Force slipping out of his grasp. When he tried to hold on to it, Anakin found out that he no longer had the strength to do so.

He had pushed himself beyond his limits and was paying the price. The exhausted man crawled next to his downed wife and Senator Mon Mothma who was kneeling next to her, checking her wounds.

“Padme!” he slurred the words. Anakin could feel that she was still alive, but that was all. His eyes rolled within their sockets and he collapsed next to Amidala.

The wounded Ben Iblis shook his head at the scene.

“Kids these days, will do anything to impress a girl.” muttered the older man. He glanced at his colleagues, most of whom were milling around, half of them stunned by the display of power, while the rest were trying their best to tend to the wounded.

“Stop staring and get armed!” he bellowed at the men and women surrounding him. This short “battle” was sure to had gotten the attention of the rest of their captors, and he had no dėsɨrė to be shot again while lacking anything with which to return the favor.

=RK=

Senate Building’s East side, Coruscant

From this close, it was easy to feel where Anakin unleashed his power. I could sense the disturbed currents of the Force, as well as the echo of the young man’s last anger fueled lash against his opponents. His collapse too.

I frowned. Skywalker needed instruction on how to handle using the Force when channeled through his passions, or he would burn himself out like he just did.

My LAAT and scores more had made their way to the Senate, and used their weapons to blast to pieces any CIS droids that dared show their heads anywhere close to us. Then the transports started unloading troopers on the buildings, or flew next to windows which were shattered by weapon’s fire.

We used the latter method to enter an empty office. I led Ahsoka and two squads of clones deeper in the building after using my lightsaber to carve through sealed doors.

A few droids tried and failed to slow us down.

We found ourselves at the entrance of a modest sized ballroom (by Coruscant’s standards anyway), where I could feel Skywalker’s presence.

I raised an eyebrow at the scene that greeted us. The farthest side of the room was blackened, with the walls mostly missing and revealing obliterated rooms. Closer to the entrance, the ground was littered with the gruesome remains of mercenaries, as well as heaps of droid scrap. There were large gashes in both the floor and ceiling.

The Senators were in the center of the room. Some of them were holding blasters, which were pointed our way.

I could see wounded people on the floor behind t. I recognized two of them: Skywalker and his wife, both of them unconscious. Anakin looked healthy, so I thought that he was simply exhausted from whatever stunt he had pulled out.

Next to him was Padme, whose head was placed carefully on the ŀȧp of a woman who was about her age. I could see the left side of Amidala’s face from my position, and I winced at the sight. It’s lower part was a burned, bloody ruin. I wouldn’t be surprise if her jaw was shattered.

I returned my attention at the Senators, a few of whom were still pointing their guns our way. Civilians…

“We are here to help. Kindly lower your blasters so we can avoid accidents.” I spoke firmly but gently. There was no need to freak them any more than they already were.

“Ahsoka, see to your master and Senator Amidala,” I told the young Togruta. She held back because two Senators, a human and one from an insectoid race I’ve never seen before, were still pointing weapons at us.

I snatched their guns from their clutches using the Force and chided them. They jumped back, obviously frightened.

“None of that, gentlemen. We are here to help,” I turned towards the clone sergeant in charge of the troopers with us. “Call in a for a medical evacuation,” I nodded at the wounded, “and provide what first aid you can.”

The man saluted me and started snapping orders to his subordinates.

I looked at the Senators who were started to look relieved by our presence. “Can anyone tell me exactly what happened? Do you have any idea where the rest of your colleagues are being held?” I asked the politicians, while Ahsoka made her way to her master and his wife.

If I was not wiped out from the events at the Jedi Temple, I would have helped heal, or at least stabilized the wounded. Well, except Amidala, I would have helped the rest of the senators only for the positive PR. However I could not afford to use up what little strength I had remaining. Something told me that this day was far from over.

=RK=

Part 3

East Ballroom, Senate Building, Coruscant

I sort of liked Senator Bel Iblis. One tough fella, who didn’t let being shot in the gut to slow him down much.

Damn lucky too, a credit to his homeworld of Corellia. A few centimeters to the left or right, and the wound would have killed him before we arrived. As it was, he had to be fȯrċɨbŀƴ convinced to lie down so a clone medic could begin treatment.

Despite being wounded, Bel Iblis was the one who was able to give me the most coherent account of what occurred. The Senators in the room had been gathered to personally discuss the hearing regarding Naboo with Amidala just before all hell broke loose.

After receiving his account of the events, I let the medics deal with the grumpy Corellian. I still had to reassure the Senators that they would be escorted to safety shortly, then went to check on Skywalker and his wife.

“How’s Senator Amidala?” I asked the clone treating her.

“Shattered jaw, concussion, multiple fractured vertebrae and she’ll have some impressive scarring, but otherwise fine.”

Well, damn. I suppose that she still lucked out, considering that whatever hit her didn’t inflict life-threatening levels of damage.

From the corner of my eyes I saw Ahsoka wincing as she heard the full extent of Amidala’s injuries. I glanced at Skywalker who looked oddly peaceful while unconscious. He certainly wouldn’t be thrilled about what happened to his wife.

When he awoke I should be around to run damage control. Can’t have him completely losing it right now. Too many other crises that still needed to be dealt with.

“Padawan Tano, you are in charge here. Remain with the Senators until reinforcements arrive and ensure they are safely evacuated.” I ordered.

I gave a nod to Ahsoka who shook her head, as if to clear it out of extraneous thoughts.

“Ah, yes. I’ll do it!” she exclaimed.

I headed for the Senate’s main chambers, where all of the debates and voting occurred. On my way there I met a short platoon of clones who were exchanging heavy fire with commando droids and mercenaries.

The CIS contingent were barricaded at the end of the corridor. While a frontal attack with me deflecting the enemy fire had a reasonable chance of success, I had another idea.

“Lieutenant, I want a heavy weapons squad with me, equipped with breaching charges. Just draw their attention for a bit,” I pointed at the enemies who were trying their best to blast us to pieces, “and we’ll flank them.”

“Yes, sir!” the man answered. “Beta section, you’re with the General!” he ordered.

Four clones, who were carrying heavy blasters and a repeater cannon perked up noticeably at that.

I led them past a side door and went to cut through the walls with my lightsaber. It took me several minutes to literally carve a new route to the flank of the CIS agents.

We found ourselves into a deserted office, which had a wall anchoring the enemy’s choke point. I nodded at one clone, who had a backpack filled with multiple varieties of explosive goodness, and pointed at the relatively thin barrier of metal separating us from the enemy. We could clearly hear them shooting from the other side.

“It’ll be a pŀėȧsurė, sir!” the man cheerfully exclaimed as he extracted several shaped charges.

He carefully placed a spread of high-explosive(s) on the wall in a pattern to ensure maximum devastation on the opposite side. A minute later he was finished, as we took cover in a neighboring room behind a desk we upturned with its top side facing the doorway. The demolitions expert turned his head my way, and I could feel his anticipation for the order to be given.

“Do the honors, sergeant.”

He pressed a buŧŧon on the computer built into his left arm-guard. In a moment the adjacent room exploded in flames, with the roar of the detonation nearly deafening us. Well, mostly me.

The clones had sound dampeners in their helmets. My own was back aboard the Requiem. I should have appropriated one from one the wounded troopers at the Jedi Temple. Not like they would need them for the next few days.

When the rumble of the explosion subsided, I shook my head in a futile effort to dispel the ringing in the ears while jumping over the desk. I activated my lightsaber and charged into the smoke from the explosion, with the clones just behind.

The charges turned out to be borderline overkill. The corridor behind where the wall used to be was a figurative charnel house, full of pieces both biological and mechanical; many of them no longer recognizable.

The enemy force blocking the way was simply annihilated. The blast wave had utterly shredded them. In the literal sense, at that.

I waved the rest of the platoon forward (those who were still at the other end of the corridor) to follow us, and we headed deeper into the complex.

That was the last major opposition we encountered on our way to the primary objective.

Several droids and the odd mercenary tried to slow us down, but they were either gunned down by the clones, taken out after I re-directed their blaster fire, or felled by the business ends of my lightsaber.

Our advance halted short twenty meters or so from the nearest entrance to the Senate’s Main Hall. There we linked up with multiple additional clone squads and platoons which had fought their own way there.

We were confronted by an unarmed, smug-looking Weequay mercenary.

“Take another step forward, and we will kill the Senators!” declared the cutthroat.

I could sense that he was telling us the truth, or at least as he believed it to be.

“How interesting.” I muttered. “Lieutenant, I want the Senate chambers sealed. Spread the word.”

“What do you think you are doing?!” exclaimed the Weequay. “I told you, we’ll… *argh*…” his speech was interrupted as I began squeezing his throat through the Force.

I maneuvered the choking individual through the air so we were face to face. I smiled coldly.

“Now, my new friend, you are going to tell me all about the hostages held by your band of misfits.”

The mercenary was too busy futilely clawing at the intangible grip on his throat to answer.

=RK=

Part 4

Near the Senate Main Chambers, Senate Building, Coruscant

“You were saying?” I asked the weequay I had suspended in the air.

He was gasping, trying to get some precious air in his lungs. The merc stared at me with horrified eyes. I could see it clear as a day. It was dawning on him that I could do what I wished with him and none of the clones would lift a finger to stop me. Hell, considering the crap pulled by the CIS and their pawns the last week or so, I could probably interrogate him on live TV and a lot of people would approve. For some reason the average citizen didn’t like folks who want to kill them with bio-weapons. I wonder why…

“The chambers are rigged to blow! Both HE and gas!” my reluctant informant stammered.

“Ah. So you’ve got chemical weaponry covered too. Do you have a nuke or two squared somewhere close?” I grumbled.

This whole situation was starting to stink. It was as if the Separatists were doing their best to become the most hated group in the galaxy. Granted, with all the bullshit they were pulling out, it was likely that my revelation as a Sith would fade into insignificance in comparison. However, it simply made no sense for Palpy to escalate the war to such an extent, even when you took into account the coup I had made with the CIS leaders. The blame could go either way. Palpatine could get his hands on even more power, or get railroaded with the most of the blame for this debacle. After all, as a Chancellor, it was ultimately his own responsibility. It did not matter if he actually had control over the situation (something I was starting to doubt) or not.

“Men, you heard the idiot. Re-check the seals of your armor and pass the word.” I ordered.

I really should have taken a helmet. As a Sith, I was trained in how to deal with poison gas, so even if the chemical weapon was released I should be able to last for a few minutes even if it acted through skin contact.

While the clones made sure that they would’t drop dead if the mercenaries made complete ȧsses from themselves, I started pumping my captive for additional information. I did not have to give him a single electric jolt before he started singing. So there were commando droids covering all entrances. The senators were at the bottom of the chambers, covered by HE charges and a few gas canisters. The merc didn’t know what type of weapon they contained but he was convinced that the chemical agent would kill at least two thirds of the hostages.

That was nothing to sneeze at. There were representatives from hundreds, perhaps thousands of species. There were few chemical agents that could kill them all, and those would kill the mercs too.

I looked at the closed door leading to the Senate Chambers. The prudent thing to do would be waiting. The information from the merc was not enough for an ȧssault. The building was still being secured, and the jammers were online. Yet, that gave me the opportunity to act without interference from Palpatine.

The big question was: Did I want the senators alive? When all was said and done I did not care about the Republic beyond the way it would affect my still forming plans for the future.

I smirked. When you don’t care about the hostages, that opened up a lot of avenues for negotiating.

I gave instructions to the clone lieutenant. Then I used telekinesis to haul the weequay man in front of me and walked to the sealed door. A wave of my hand, directing the Force, was all that was needed to open it. I strode in and looked around. The chamber was an exact copy of what I remembered from the movies.

There were thousands of beings gathered on the bottom levels. Over them I could see crimson laser beams crisscrossing into an intricate web over the hostages. Over that were floating four spherical droids, which had canisters attached to their chassis.

Everyone, including the droids spread to cover the multiple entrances glanced in my direction. About a hundred blasters snapped up and aimed at me, and my captive.

A woman with pale, almost snow white skin stared at me in surprise. Here head was shaven, except for a single, long ponytail. Her huge, calculating eyes were examining me carefully, behind the scope of a long-barreled sniper rifle. I wondered if she was the one who had shot down Cody’s LAAT.

I looked around but was unable to see anyone else who I felt that might be in charge. I smiled to the mercenaries and their hostages. If their expressions were anything to judge by, they were disturbed by my expression. I wonder why…

I twisted sharply my left fist and the Force field suspending my captive followed suit. His neck snapped like a twig and he twitched a few times before becoming still. I let his corpse out of my grasp and it fell to the floor. Everyone’s eyes followed the gruesome spectacle.

“Well, folks, is there anyone else who wants to negotiate?” I asked cheerfully. “If any one of you idiots wish to survive the next few minutes, lay down your weapons and hit the ground, face first.”

Their answer was nervous laughter and incredulous stares from the Senators. I had the nagging feeling that they were not taking me seriously. What a pity.

The woman nodded to one of her henchmen and he turned around. His blaster snapped a shot and a Zabrak wearing expensive robes crumpled on the floor with most of his face missing. The mercenary who executed the senator smirked at the hostages, before I focused my attention on him for a single moment. His weapons slipped from his fingers. He grabbed his throat and fell to his knees chocking as blood flooded his shattered trachea.

“That was a foolish thing to do, girl,” I addressed the apparent mercenary leader. “How do you think you’ll get out of here? Trade Senators for a secure transport off world?” I sneered.

Oh, I was aware that without my presence it may have worked. Splendidly at that. However, the CIS pawns in front of me were out of luck. I did not feel like making deals with what amounted to state-sponsored terrorists.

The white skinned woman was glaring daggers at me. I was sure that if the looks could kill I would be dying slowly after she had shot off some very important equipment.

“I have nearly ten thousand Senators at my mercy!” she declared in a grave voice. Under other circumstances I could have found it even pleasant, but I could hear the traces of doubt in her tone. She was confused, almost afraid. I guess, she had never expected to “negotiate” with someone who did not care for the hostages’ lives. Too bad for her.

“So?” I deadpanned.

The mercs just stared at me. Obviously things were not going according to their plans.

“You fools used bio weapons on Coruscant. There is no way in the Nine Corellian Hells, that any one off you is leaving this building in something other than chains or body bags.” I declared.

The Senators gasped at my little revelation. It was no surprise that they were not aware that however inefficiently, Blue Shadow was deployed on the planet. I could sense anger rising in a lot of the captives, hastily overwhelming their fear. Huh. May be not all of them were a lost cause.

The woman pointed at the droids floating over the hostages.

“A press of a buŧŧon and they all die!” she declared boldly. “You will meet our demands!”

“No. By the way you have one minute left.” I said in a bored tone.

My attention was on the droids floating over the hostages. I did not like what I sensed.

She stared in my eyes. The cold, dead gaze of a Sith met hers. She gulped.

“You are insane!” she spat. “We’ll kill them all if we have to!”

I tilted my head to the right, bȧrėly restraining my amusement. I drank the fear of both mercenaries and hostages. It tasted like a well seasoned, sweet wine. Its been a long time since I felt something like that. The Dark Side was stirring around me, pleased by the fuel that it was feeding it.

“And you are a fool!” I declared. “Most of the honorable Senators were dead men and women from the moment you took them as hostages!”

Said dead men walking stared at me as if I had grown a second head.

“Do you think that your Separatist masters planned to let any one of them, or you for that matter, get out of here alive?! The best outcome for the Confederation from today’s debacle is if the Senators are decimated! Why do you think they sent so many commando droids to this excursion?” I nodded at one of the said robots, which was studying me dispassionately.

Few of the mercenaries gave speculative glances to their “allies”. The woman was glancing between me and the droids. But most telling were the expressions on may Senator’s faces. They were experienced political animals, who were keenly aware what would happen to the Republic if most of them were suddenly killed. Many of them were in shades that were the equivalent of ‘deadly pale’ for a human, with some looking in confusion at their esteemed colleagues.

The woman’s glare intensified.

“You’ll be lynched if these fools die on your watch!” she pointed at the hostages.

“It will be nothing compared to the fury I’ll face when the Republic Citizens understand that every one of them, and their future representatives are turned into targets, and that is precisely what will happen if any one of your demands is met. In the great scheme of things both me and the Senators are expendable for the good of the Republic.” I declared.

Well, that was a creative editing of the truth. After all, I was a selfish bastard, who did not care for the Republic. Yet, from a certain point of view, all I said was true. Every competent GAR general should have made the same decision. The only thing that negotiating with a terrorist did, was making your citizens targets. Of course, too damn often the short term, politically expedient thing was to do so anyway, and damn the consequences.

Well, I guess that many Senators did not agree with me. Their baleful glares were telling.

“So, tell me, do you have control over all those charges, littered around the senators, or are they under the control of the droids?” I smiled at the woman.

Thirty more seconds.

She frowned and gave a nervous glance at one of the commando droids. Ah. That was going to be unpleasant. The only variant where most of the hostages walked away was one in which the mercs were in control. With the CIS droids holding all the cards…

Twenty seconds.

This was going to be ugly. I drank deeply from the poisoned well that was the Dark Side. I felt power rushing through my veins like a liquid fire. My senses expanded, feeling the clones taking positions around every entrance to the Senate Cambers. There were breaching charges placed on many doors, or the troopers were readying thermal detonators with which to blast a way in. On a few occasions, missile launchers were prepared for that exercise.

It was a good thing that there were no senators used as a live shields at the entrances.

Fifteen seconds.

I concentrated on the platforms at the bottom of the big chamber. They should do.

The female mercenary was scared. I could taste her fear. She was saying something about executing senators but I paid her no more attention. A lot of the hostages were about to die anyway.

Ten seconds.

The clones were in place. Those who were carrying concussion grenades had them primed and ready. My attention was on the droids carrying the chemical weapon. I examined them once again. They were interlinked. If one was disabled or tampered with in any way, all would blow up. Those things were shielded too, which made precise work on them much harder. Especially when I could not see with my eyes what I had to manipulate. So it was the hard way.

Five seconds.

I stretched through the Force and tapped the shoulders of various clone officers, who were commanding the troopers around the chambers. Those men started snapping orders.

Show time. The doors leading to the Senate Chamber blew inward, showering the vast expanse with shrapnel and pieces of molten metal. Half of the commando droids were wiped out in an instant. Yet, the rest were already acting, before the lethal rain of twisted metal had stopped.

The platforms at the bottom of the huge chamber leaped from their docks, creating a crude dome over and around the hostages. The charges around them detonated but most of the blast-waves and sharpnew were absorbed by my improvised shield. Yet, hundreds were scythed down by the shock-wave anyway.

In the same time, I grabbed the droids carrying the chemical weapon with a sure, telekinetic grip and hurled them at the ceiling, maintaining a sphere of Force energy around them. I threw a pod after each one of them.

If it was not for the multiple droids shooting at me and draining my shield, I could have used the Force to contain whatever was in those canisters, but that was not going to work. I was exhausted even before returning to the Senate.

Clones were pouring in the chambers after a barrage of concussion grenades.

The droids carrying the chemical agent detonated but the gray gas was contained in bubbles of Force. Moments later, they were smashed into the ceiling by the pods I hurled at them. A lot of the gas was sealed into an air tight shell of metal. The rest was contained by me for few more seconds, until my shield fell.

I jumped away from a hail of blaster fire. I called my lightsaber to my right hand and ignited its ruby blade. I rolled under the shots of a nearby droid and impaled it on my saber. I threw another across the chamber.

Above me, thick ropes of gray gas started descending. Fast.

“Get the hostages out of here! Now!” my roar echoed around the vast open space.

I could sense that the clones at the bottom were already doing so, but I knew it would be too little, too late. Unless I decided to sacrifice myself for the senators, most of them would be exposed to the gas, and that was not something that I was inclined to do.

I cut to pieces two more droids and hurled a pod at a group of mercs who were cheerfully shooting at the mass of hostages. Only one of them was fast enough to jump out of the way, however that was the extent of his luck. He landed in a stream of heavier than air gas and started chocking.

All around me, clones were storming the chambers and blasting both mercenaries and droids apart. But it was not fast enough. The gas was descending fast, in a quickly expanding streams of gray death.

I used telekinesis to throw away some of it but had to duck when a crimson blaster bolt nearly took my head off. I glanced at the direction from which the shot came, just in time to see two more blasts heading my way. I deflected them and glared at the woman who was sniping at me. Our eyes met for a brief moment, and before she pressed the trigger again I could see a mix of resignation and fierce enjoyment. I deflected another blaster bolt, this time at her, but she ducked back into the pod she was using for cover.

Around me the gas descended, splashing over a hastily erected telekinetic shield. I held my breath, using the Force to extend the time I could survive without air. However that feat was the extent of what I could pull off without collapsing.

My muscles were already on fire, and I could feel my strength ebbing away.

The sniper was able to shoot one last time before she was engulfed by the gas, which moments later fell over thousands of hostages. Many of them clutched their ċhėsts and collapsed, their bodies wracked by convulsions.

What a clusterfuck!