A Jedi funeral is not like a normal funeral in that you aren’t buried. Instead the Jedi believe your body should be burned so that you can return to the skies and soil, to the force. As the Jedi quickly discovered, there could be no funeral for Master Yoda as there was no body to burn.
Anakin emerged from Yoda’s chamber to find several gawking Jedi, all with concerned looks on their faces. Younglings had been crying, and several of the Jedi even seemed angry.
“What did you do?” a Jedi asked. “Where is Master Yoda?”
“He’s with the force,” Anakin said, still feeling Yoda near him, but also the anger of the Jedi before him.
The young Jedi ignited his lightsaber, which prompted nearly every Jedi in sight to do the same. No one was moving, but there was a lot of anxiety in the air. Anakin felt an overwhelming amount of fear given that they were in the temple.
Then it hit him, along with many of the Jedi in the temple. The first blast made a low rumble in the walls, compliments of blaster fire. Those on level with the ground immediately rushed outside with their sabers drawn as a small armada of droid ships began deploying troops in the temple.
While they looked like super battle droids, they were far more advanced. Their arms were fitted with retractable spears armed with the same technology used in electro staffs. As the first wave of Jedi also discovered, their arms could emit large oval shields that were repelling their sabers.
While the casualties were small for the Jedi, they were still being driven back by the blaster fire. The droids were just beginning to push the lines back when the Jedi experienced a wave of force energy surround them. Their movements became swifter, their senses more attuned, and their energy felt limitless.
Obi-Wan and Mace led Luke, Ben, and the remaining Jedi to the north entrance of the temple. The droids heads were just coming into sight from the steep stair case they were climbing when the Jedi made it outside. One of the ships dove nose first toward that same entrance and began firing immediately.
At a speed that even Jedi eyes could barely see, Anakin had rushed out in front of everyone and swatted back the volley of laser blasts, striking the ship several times in the window of the cockpit. It was continuing toward them, but Anakin used the force to guide it to land on the wave of battle droids on the stairs.
Anakin stood at the ledge, rolling the ship down the stairs with his mind, eliminating the entire wave of attackers. He spun around to see the Jedi and his sons in combat with a wave of soldiers. He looked down to see Jedi falling at the hands of the larger wave of troops, and the firing ships that aided their success.
From the east several larger ships, filled with Republic clone troopers swooped into the largest mass of droid soldiers, and began to overwhelm them. The Jedi, were beginning to back away while the clone army was easily dismantling their droid opponents. Rushing back inside, the Jedi found more droids, only these ones were being overwhelmed by Jedi.
Obi-Wan continued to parry from all different angles around himself and Master Windu. When Obi-Wan’s blade was blocking laser fire or a spear, Mace’s blade quickly followed from the opposite direction. Every single time, Obi-Wan blocked, Mace destroyed the droid responsible.
Luke and Ben had a much different strategy; two on one. Every droid that came near, the brothers Skywalker severed through an appendage, than the head or torso from opposite angles. Luke and Ben force pushed all of the droids outside, then charged forward as a ship crashed through the wall behind them. The crashed ship and bits of wall now prevented the Skywalkers from getting back inside.
“Ideas?” Ben asked as more droids began coming up the stair case.
“Blast them.”
Ben switched his saber to the new function and began firing shots toward the crowd of droids. Those that hit, went right through the droids, taking one to three at a time down. The droids fired back, but Luke’s saber deflected the dangerous shots. When the droids came close enough, Ben leaped forward with Luke right behind and they continued to force the droids back.
The brilliant flash of blue was so swift and accurate, not one of the enemy droids managed to see it. It weaved in and out of their bodies and began moving up the stairs, destroying the droids without their knowledge. Luke and Ben sheathed their sabers and used all of their might to shove the droids backward, who fell into the swift light of Anakin’s saber.
“Are you alright?” Anakin asked, to which the boys nodded. “Good, follow me.”
As they rushed down the stairs to deal with the last bit of droids, Anakin’s inner confusion grew. He was quite proud of them for the way they handled themselves and maintained control. Not to mention taking quite a few droids with them. But there was part of him that was worried. He knew the rush one gets when they’ve first been in combat with the force, and he could see it in his son’s faces.
Obi-Wan and Mace had maneuvered themselves into one of the gardens, under heavy fire. As they protected one another, they began to back up to the Council Spire of the temple, when the force screamed at both of them. Obi-Wan flung himself backward while Mace went forward to dodge the incoming rocket. The explosion threw Obi-Wan across the gardens, while Mace went over the edge of the temple.
A daring clone pilot brought his ship down and after Master Windu. Mace latched onto a stretched arm from one of the soldiers, pulling him inside the ship just as it turned to pull up. Mace stood and bowed to his clone savior, but dodged back suddenly from his punch.
Although he couldn’t explain it, he was being attacked by half a dozen clones suddenly. They made the mistake of thinking him to be less dangerous without his saber, but as they all found out in a matter of seconds, his hands move just as quickly.
Wrenching the wrists of the first two attackers and force pushing them to the side, Mace met the next clone with a straight kick to the face. Another clone wrapped his arms around the Jedi Master, who jumped upward, kicking the approaching clone in the face. Mace struggled for a moment, then managed to break his arms free and send a powerful snapping elbow into the side of the clone troopers head. The crack of the helmet and skull was much louder than the blaster that went off behind Mace. Though the force had made him dodge to the side, he was still shot in the upper left of his back.
Mace fell to the ground and yelled in pain, arching his left shoulder backward. Another blast hit him in the back of his thigh, then one in the lower spine. His shooter kicked Mace onto his back for the final shot, so that Mace could see his doom before him. Mace recognized the armored gun standing before him, it was the bounty hunter from Geonosis, but his armor had seen much damage from combat.
The final thing through Mace’s head, other than the blaster bolt, was to push his attacker out of the ship with the force. Although Mace managed to force the bounty hunter out, the shot still connected, and ended Mace’s life instantly. The bounty hunter laughed and used his jetpack to coast to the ground.
Lifting a small electronic remote in his hand, Boba Fett activated the bomb on the ship, making sure there were no witnesses and nothing left of Mace Windu.
Anakin and the boys met back up with Obi-Wan, and Council members. Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon. The clone troopers all rallied around this group of Jedi and pointed their weapons toward them. With their sabers ready the Skywalkers and Jedi had a stand off with the clones.
“What are they doing?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ki-Adi-Mundi said. “Where’s Master Windu?”
“What’s wrong dad?” Ben asked as everyone turned to Anakin.
“Master Windu, he’s fallen.”
“No, it can’t be,” Master Plo Koon said. “Who saw him last?”
“I did I believe,” Obi-Wan said, replaying the images in his head. “There was an explosion and I was flung backward. I don’t know what happened to Master Windu, but I didn’t feel his death through the force then. Though I can’t sense his presence now…”
A larger ship, a command ship, landed and another dozen clones with heavily modified blaster cannons marched toward the Jedi, followed by a military officer. The Jedi knew the man as Tarkin, a Governor from Eriadu, and a ruthless military leader who had gained much face in the senate. Obi-Wan and Anakin knew him as friend to Chancellor Palpatine, no doubt one of his many puppets.
“Yes, that’s him, that’s the one,” Tarkin yelled to his troops, who closed in on the Jedi.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Anakin Skywalker, you are finally under arrest for the murder of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. My men and I are going to escort you to the Senate where your trial will begin. Now take him away!”
“What’s he talking about dad?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, you told us you only killed bad people,” Luke added.
“I did, Chancellor Palpatine was a Sith Lord, you remember what I told you about the Sith?”
The boys nodded.
“Look, there’s proof I’m innocent, Master Windu was there, he can…” Anakin paused as he realized Master Windu had just been killed. This didn’t feel right.
“Luke, take my saber, and look after your brother,” Anakin told his son, but he could see in Luke’s eyes Luke was still in shock over what he heard.
When the clones began to pull Anakin away, the Jedi Masters had to physically hold down the Skywalkers to let their father go. As their heads began to spin out of control with fear and anger, the dark side of the force was calling to them heavily, and Anakin could feel it’s dark twisted presence.
"Obi-Wan, the dark times are far from over" Anakin told his friend telepathically.