The Clone Wars were drawing to an end. The Force had revealed that much to the old master.
He always had an affinity for foresight. The visions of the future came easily to him, though the future was ever in motion. So heightened was his ability, that he could pinpoint the course of action that would take him closest to the future that would be desired, or avoid the course of action that would lead to tragedy.
Today, the Force revealed only violence to him. A ship, hurtling through space. Not just space, but time, as well. Remnants of the past, trapped until the future, yet going backwards again.
Visions of purple skin, elegant glass, and blood. So much blood. The face of a friend...
Yoda's eyes snapped open, and he began to breathe heavily. Not much frightened him, as fear was of the dark side, and there had never been a spirit so entwined within the light as he, but today he felt fear.
The most troubling part was that he was snapped out of his meditation by a vision. Once, several years ago, he had a vision of a mysterious warrior killing a long haired Jedi in a palace, and that vision came to fruition. That vision had snapped him out of meditation as well.
Something terrible was about to happen.
"Master Yoda, is everything alright?" asked Kit Fisto, walking through the entrance to the meditation room.
"We felt a disturbance in the Force, a great feeling of fear," added Plo Koon.
"He's just worried that he's getting too old to keep up with us youngsters," joked Obi-Wan.
"A vision, I had," replied the old master. "One that will be true. Prepared, we must be."
Obi-Wan's smile faded as he realized the gravity of the situation. Master Yoda always stated that the future is always in motion. For him to flatly state that a vision was coming true was more than alarming.
Hands dropped to lightsabers.
"We're always prepared, Master," Kit said with his trademark smile.
Yoda could not even look the other master in the eye.
Mace Windu was on a mission to Dantooine. Young Skywalker was on a mission by himself to Naboo.
Shaak Tii and Aayla Secura were on Felucia, and Ki-Adi Mundi was headed to Mon Calamari. The rest of the council was on Geonosis, tying up some loose ends, so to speak.
A deep sense of dread began to well up inside Yoda, and he made eye contact with Master Kenobi.
"Here, they are," he whispered, gravely.
An explosion rocked the Jedi temple, as a large freighter crashed through the main hall, knocking down several support pillars. Yoda could feel the Jedi deaths winking out, crushed under the weight of the starship, and each death pained him as a heart attack.
The Jedi pulled their lightsabers from their belts and dashed out of the room, Yoda hopping onto the back of Kit Fisto.
They made their way down the hallway, finally breaking through to the main hall of the Jedi Temple, and their hearts sank. The temple, their cherished temple, was in ruins, with a dozen fires burning all around.
The screams of the trapped Jedi would haunt them for the rest of their lives, however long that would be, they all thought.
They had all been in many battles, but something felt different about this.
They approached the rear of the ship, and the main hatch opened. Dozens of Sith poured out, red sabers lit, and each with a sheathed knife hanging at their waist.
All but three Sith exited the shuttle. Master Yoda lingered a moment, trying to get a sense of the beings at the top of the ramp.
A blade plunged into the floor where Yoda had been standing. The diminutive master was far too fast, though. He cartwheeled to the right, turned, and lunged straight at the nameless Sith, slicing his head off in passing, almost casually.
He joined the trio of Fisto, Koon, and Kenobi, all circled by about a dozen Sith. They were unable to pierce the defensive ring of the Jedi masters.
Obi-Wan's Soresu was enough to block off his entire area of the circle, leaving the other three masters to fend for themselves.
Fisto's Shi-Cho was simple, but deadly. A thrust to his abdomen was quickly blocked in a downward motion, and then a hole appeared in his assailants throat from Fisto's blade.
Koon was crashing through the defense of several Sith warriors that dared to get close enough for his Form V to penetrate.
Yoda used his speed, his overwhelming speed, to bounce from side to side slicing at ankles and knees.
Within minutes, they had eviscerated the Sith. The other dozen warriors were doing damage of their own down the halls, cutting down Padawan's and other elderly Jedi. The temple alarm was blaring, and Yoda knew that soon reinforcements in the form of Temple Guards would arrive, but these Sith were skilled.
Even his robe had a few scorch marks from near misses.
The Sith at the top of the shuttle ramp finally began to slowly walk down. The four Jedi masters held their guard. They all knew that no matter how deadly the other Sith were, these three were the worst.
The two on either side of the middle Sith were massive. Their shirts were sleeveless, their violet skin a steep contrast to the darkness of their uniforms, their arms bulging with muscles forged from a lifetime of training.
Yoda could sense that these two would be a match for any single Jedi on the Council, they were so powerful.
But he wasn't just any single Jedi on the Council. He was Yoda.
Locking eyes with their supposed leader, Yoda began to shift his feet.
"Bring me the green one. I want his head."
"Which one?" asked the Sith to his left.
"The little green one, you idiot. Can you not sense that he's the more powerful Jedi?"
"You said green, and there are two green one's, so how are we supposed to know?"
"JUST BRING ME THE TOAD!" screamed the leader.
The two Sith exchanged glances, and then rushed down the ramp.
Tightening his lips, Yoda closed his eyes for a moment, then with blinding speed, rushed forward with lightsaber ignited, a cyclone of green enveloping the massive Sith warriors.
They didn't even have time to scream. Violet body parts littered the floor, and blood was everywhere.
Fury rose within the Force, like a volcano, not just about to blow it's top off, but actually explode outward, unable to contain the rage of magma within.
"Grandmaster Yoda, I am. Welcome here, you are not. Leave, you may not. Sealed, your fate is."
"What a peculiar way of speaking," the leader said as he began to slowly walk down the stairs.
"And what a beautiful facility you have here! Well, had, before my Sabers and I arrived."
Yoda stood his ground as the leader approached.
"Oh, you must think me to be so rude. I am High Lord Sarasu Taalon, of the Lost Tribe of Sith from the Planet, Kesh. And where I come from, we believe in an eye for an eye."
Faster than Yoda could react, Sarasu dove off the ramp.
With a blindingly fast sweep, he cut the legs out from underneath Kit Fisto. Plo Koon extended a hand and blasted Taalon with Electric Judgement, the light side version of Force lightning, powerful enough to destroy an entire platoon of battle droids.
The Sith caught the blast in his hand, and using tutaminis, completely dissipated the energy. A roar and an extended hand, and Koon was enveloped in the most powerful Force lightning in the galaxy. He screamed once, then burst into flames and collapsed as his brain was cooked almost instantly.
"No!" screamed Obi-Wan, who had just now perceived what had happened.
"Yes!" cackled Taalon in reply, as he struck at Obi-Wan with blows so fast that even he couldn't comprehend. The Force worked for him.
Yoda jumped at Taalon, knowing that within seconds his dear friend would soon be dead, lacking not the skill but certainly the power to contend with one so powerful.
Sarasu, in mid-turn, blasted Yoda with the Force, sending the old master flying into the hull of the freighter, knocking his breath out from him. He rushed to get back to his feet, but froze when he saw Sarasu Taalon gain the upper hand.
The Sith pulled Kenobi's lightsaber from his grasp with the Force, discarding it, and held the powerful Jedi in the air with a Force choke, turned him around to face Yoda, and then lowered him to the ground, putting him on his knees.
"Let him go, Taalon. Between you and I, this is."
"No, this is between the Jedi and I."
He grabbed a handful of Kenobi's hair, pulling his knife free from his waist, which appeared to be made of glass, and with one quick motion, removed Kenobi's head.
Yoda's heart sank to depths that it had never gone, to a pit of despair. He had watched this Sith massacre three of the best friends he had ever know, and more than that, three of the greatest Jedi that had ever served the galaxy.
Casually, Taalon threw Kenobi's head at Yoda, and it rolled until it reached his feet. Yoda couldn't bear to look at the lifeless eyes of Obi-Wan, or at the blood quickly surrounding his feet.
An unfamiliar emotion took hold of the master.
Rage.
With a scream that could only be described as demonic, Yoda took flight, igniting his lightsaber. Ataru spins and slashes to Taalon's legs.
Leaping up and over the violet skinned man, striking with impossible speed at his head and neck.
Taalon blocked them all, still.
Yoda blasted Taalon with the Force, sending him sliding back several meters. The Sith fell to one knee, head lowered, trying to catch his breath.
"You are talented, Master Jedi. In fact, I only know of one other Jedi more powerful than you. You should be honored. But, I am still your better."
Force lightning rippled through the air, scorching the duracrete floor, headed straight for the tiny master. Enraged still, Yoda caught the full might of the lighting in his palms, dropping his lightsaber.
Yoda slid backwards, his tutaminis absorbing the lightning, but the sheer force of the energy was pushing him backward.
The Sith we are looking for, this is not. A new threat, this is.
Yoda pushed back with all his might, and succeeded in returning the energy to Taalon, who was not expecting the Jedi to accomplish such a feat.
Instead of being enveloped in his own lightning, or taking the time to use tutaminis himself, he merely stepped aside, the lightning crashing into a stone pillar, immediately breaking it in half.
"Do you not yet see that I am more powerful than you? That you cannot win this fight?"
"To win, it is not necessary. Only for you to lose, must I accomplish."
Yoda raised his hands, and made a pulling gesture. The two pieces of the stone pillar, each thirty meters long and weighing several tons, floated up from the ground and raced toward the Sith, one behind the other.
Knowing exactly what the Sith would do, Yoda timed his next move just right. Taalon backflipped over the pillars, but Yoda raised the second one up just in time. Taalon crashed into it, shattering his collarbone in the process.
The pillars and Taalon fell to the ground.
Yoda grabbed the Sith with the Force, raised him up, and slammed him to the ground, repeatedly. The thought of this Sith doing to every Jedi, every Padawan, every youngling, was more than he could handle.
A massive Force repulse from Sarasu broke Yoda's grip on him with the Force. Yoda braced himself and stayed upright as the wave passed over him, strong enough that even the massive freighter, lodged into place in the temple hall, was rocked.
Sarasu Taalon was still in the air, holding himself in place with the Force. His hands crackled with lethal electricity. Yoda knew the Sith would be blasting him with the lightning, and he began to plan.
The first bolt launched from Taalon struck the area where Yoda had been standing, leaving a small crater behind. Yoda had already bounded away, and was throwing a chunk of duracrete at the Sith, which was blasted into slivers by the Force lightning.
Sarasu blasted at Yoda again, and Yoda continued his evasive actions, hurling debris at Taalon, getting closer and closer to the Sith.
Yoda opened himself to the Force like he hadn't in years. In decades. In centuries.
A maelstrom of debris circled around Sarasu, manipulated by the ancient master. Stones, duracrete slabs, anything and everything Yoda could find was sucked in and thrown at the Sith.
But it was all for naught. Sarasu had enveloped himself in a wall of energy that not even the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order could break through. At least, not with debris.
Yoda summoned the lightsaber of the fallen Kenobi, and abandoned his cyclone around Taalon. Debris began to crash down, and Yoda raced through it, bounding off of one piece and another, lunging at Taalon with both his and Kenobi's lightsaber ignited.
Yoda's Force reserves were now channeled into his Force barrier, electricity crackling around him. Crossing his blades, he intercepted Sarasu's blast of Force lightning while riding a slab of duracrete, coming within a meter of the Sith.
A violent explosion ripped through the halls of the temple, sending the Jedi and the Sith flying in opposite directions. Their Force barriers had connected, and the reaction had been stronger than the blast of a proton torpedo. The freighter had been ripped in half, and a large section of the temple floor had been destroyed, revealing unseen depths below.
Sarasu Taalon was the first to his feet. His collarbone had been shattered earlier, and now he was suffering from several broken ribs. One side of his face had been completely burned away, revealing muscle and bone. He walked with a hard limp, as his hip had been dislocated in the Force explosion.
Master Yoda struggled to get to his feet, but he just couldn't. His ancient body was betraying him. Blood poured from a deep wound in his forehead, and his left arm hung at an awkward angle.
A shadow fell across him as Sarasu stood over the injured Grandmaster.
"You lose, Jedi."
Yoda closed his eyes and reached out to all the Jedi across the galaxy. To young Skywalker, stern Mace, wise Ki-Adi Mundi, noble Shaak-Tii.
The Sith have triumphed. We are lost.
High Lord Sarasu Taalon ignited his lightsaber and plunged it in between the Grandmaster's eyes.
With the battle over, Sarasu finally felt the full weight of his injuries. He extinguished his lightsaber and turned towards the direction that the rest of his troops had run to.
Fully expecting to see more dead Jedi, instead, he saw his remaining warriors laying in ruins, absolutely butchered.
The most evil cackle he had ever heard sent chills down his spine.
Behind him, a hooded figure in a red cloak stood with two lightsabers lit, head pointed downward, revealing only a sinister grin.
"You fool, there can be only two."
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