(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)
A/N: The Jedi Council convenes.
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Padme could handle the Senate and the transition of power. After all, it was Palpatine himself who put those measures in place for her to take over in his absence. And even his sycophants like Sly Moore and Mas Amedda shouldn’t raise too much of a protest given Padme was ostensibly ‘on their side’ behind the scenes.
No, the far greater threat to Padme’s eventual rise to Empress wasn’t in the Senate at all. It was in the Jedi Order. For all that Vader had just spent so much time convincing Grievous that the Jedi Order was already on its way out, there were a multitude of ways that its destruction could happen still. Some of them were far messier than others.
It fell to Vader to guide the Fallen Jedi Order onto the new path they’d already taken at least the first collective step down. It fell to him to convince the Jedi High Council that the Light Side was finished and the Jedi with it.
… But he wasn’t foolish enough to expect it to go smoothly, so Vader made sure Obi-Wan, or rather Vocatus, would be joining him on Coruscant. Together with Depa, that at least gave him two confirmed Councilmembers in his corner. Shaak Ti would also be hologramming in, but hers would merely be a voice, not a potential saber should things turn violent.
And frankly, Vader couldn’t imagine they wouldn’t turn violent once everything was revealed. The Jedi High Council was not known for its understanding and adaptability, and that was before they’d all secretly fallen and started hiding it from one another. The likes of Windu and Yoda, once the truth came out… he truly didn’t know how they were going to react.
Yet, it had to be done. This had to happen. And while Vader supposed he could have continued going about things piece meal, taking each Councilmember aside and converting or dealing with them one by one… he simply didn’t have the time or patience, truth be told.
Walking into the Council Chambers to find everyone gathering, Vader meets first Depa’s eyes and then Vocatus’. The former lowers her gaze almost immediately, offering a submissive incline of her head that could have been mistaken for a greeting.
The latter holds Vader’s gaze for a bit longer before giving him a sharp, determined nod. The man formerly known as Obi-Wan Kenobi was completely and utterly on board here. There was none of the hesitation or fear that had gripped him back on the Negotiator.
Vader is not the last to arrive, but he is near the end. As he takes his seat, it’s only a minute more before the final physically present Jedi Master files in and takes theirs, and for a couple of others to finish holocalling in and filling their seats.
“Right then. This meeting of the Council is called to order. Master Skywalker, you wished for us to gather. What do you have for us?”
Rising from his chair, Vader lets out a low breath, sweeping his gaze across the entire Council, meeting each of their eyes for a moment before finally speaking.
“As of this moment, Darth Tyrannus and his master Darth Sidious are no more.”
Shock is the immediate reaction of those present who aren’t already in the know. Eyes widen, surprise blares out in the Force, and seemingly poised and composed Jedi Masters shift and squirm in their seats. Even Yoda freezes up, caught off guard by the reveal. The ancient gremlin immediately leans forward, his eyes narrowing into slits.
“News to this Council, this is. Proof, you have, Master Skywalker?”
Vader inclines his head.
“I can provide proof, yes. But we have much to discuss as is, and that is only the barest tip of everything. The Banite Sith are no more… the proof I can give you will ultimately be a waste of time when their absence is felt in the coming days. Dooku’s death alone spells the end of the Confederacy.”
Ki-Adi-Mundi grunts at that.
“Can we really count on that though? Lynchpin he might be, but so long as Grievous is still active and the Confederacy is still bank rolled by the Executive Council, even Dooku’s death might not be enough to force them to sue for peace.”
Vader shakes his head, a light smile on his face.
“That won’t be an issue. As of yesterday, the Executive Council has been slaughtered to the last… and General Grievous has assumed complete control over the Separatist Droid Armies.”
That sends a ripple of alarm through the Council Chambers, prompting Plo Koon to lean forward and his seat.
“How is that not a problem?! Grievous is a monster… the war will only get worse if he has unilateral control and nobody keeping him in check!”
But Vader shakes his head again.
“No, Master Koon. Grievous is not a monster… he’s a weapon. Count Dooku did not hold him back… he wielded him precisely as he wished to, as a blunt instrument. Those of you who remember Yan Dooku as a Jedi and a friend allowed yourself to be blinded to this fact, but in the end… Grievous did as he was bade by his wielder, as a good weapon should.”
“And what, pray tell, will a weapon without a wielder do now except go out of control and become indiscriminate in its killing?”
Vader meets Mace Windu’s eyes from across the chamber, tilting his head to the side at the question.
“We won’t have to find out. I have redirected Grievous and his armies in a different direction. Towards the Hutts.”
There’s a new ripple of surprise at that as everyone in the room is floored by Vader’s admission. In the end, Windu is the only one who can find his voice.
“Explain yourself, Skywalker. You directed the cyborg General? How?”
Vader smiles, though it’s a bit of a sad one. Here they came to the crux of the matter.
“You all are too focused on the General even now. It’s understandable. He’s flashy. He’s noise. But that is how the Banite Sith have pulled a shroud over your eyes. That is how they’ve managed to distract you all this time. In doing so, they’ve very nearly led this Order to ruin… they would have destroyed us all, given a bit more time.”
Yoda’s voice cracks out through the stillness, the ancient Grandmaster humming.
“Banite Sith, you say. Distinction, twice now you have made.”
Vader inclines his head.
“Yes. One thousand years ago, when the Jedi believed the Sith vanquished once and for all… they were wrong. Darth Bane alone survived, having done his own part to kill as many of his fellow Sith Lords as he possibly could. In his survival, he created a new Sith Order… and instituted a single overarching directive. The Rule of Two. A Master to embody all of the power of the Sith… and an Apprentice to jealously crave it.”
Looking at Yoda, knowing that the Jedi Master had been alive for the majority of the time period that Vader was talking about, he continues on in a steady tone of voice.
“For the past thousand years, the Sith have survived in the shadows, lurking in the nooks and crannies of the galaxy. They hid right under this Order’s nose and remained hidden for centuries. And even now, even in the past ten years as they were revealed to you… it was not by mistake. It was because hiding no longer benefited them. They’d already become ascendant. They had already all but won.”
Another ripple through the Council Chambers at that. But before anyone can speak, Vader cuts them all off.
“Darth Sidious was Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine.”
This sentence specifically, Vader pushes the truth of it into the Force. Everything else he’s said, he hasn’t bothered so far. But now… now he makes sure that every single Jedi Master in the room knows that he’s telling the truth.
The shock this time is far greater on top of being intermingled with horror. Yoda slumps while Windu stiffens up. Others around the room have their own reactions.
“That… that’s impossible.”
Vader turns his eyes to Kit Fisto, one of the youngest members of the Council before Vader himself came along. For the briefest of moments he finds himself remembering the sight of the Nautolan’s severed head greeting him when he’d finally arrived at the Chancellor’s Office that fateful eve so many years ago in another timeline entirely.
It had been Kit Fisto’s large, lifeless black eyes that he’d seen first upon entering the office, letting him know just how badly the fight against Palpatine was going. At the time, Vader had still fully intended to help the Jedi take Palpatine into custody. But he’d also thought he needed the Supreme Chancellor alive. More fool him.
Here in the present of this timeline, Vader scoffs.
“Impossible? Far from it. Palpatine, Sidious… it matters not what you call him. He was the Banite Sith Master. The mastermind behind the Naboo Incident and the Clone Wars. He sat at the head of this decrepit Republic and orchestrated the downfall of this Order while gathering more and more power to himself.”
It’s a testament to how shocking this reveal is that nobody has anything to say. So Vader just keeps speaking.
“I lured him to a hidden laboratory where he’d been cloning himself in a bid for immortality, and I ended the threat he posed to the galaxy once and for all. At the same time, Dooku found himself biting off more than he could chew on the planet of Dathomir. And thus the Banite Sith came to an end.”
This time its Windu who calls him out on the consistent way he talks about the Order of Bane.
“The Banite Sith… but not the Sith entirely. Is that right, Skywalker?”
There had already been a bit of underlying tension building in the room, but at Mace Windu’s words, that tension ratchets up several levels. Vader just smiles though, unperturbed.
“Vader, actually.”
At Windu’s furrowed brow, he elaborates.
“I am Darth Vader. Lord of the Sith.”
This time the shock is mixed with dismay. Vader isn’t surprised by that. He was supposed to be their Golden Boy, after all. Their Chosen One. Even Windu had bought into it in this timeline, promoting him to the rank of Master and giving him a seat on the Jedi High Council.
And now here he stands before them, all but proclaiming himself to be a Sith in their midst.
It’s Yoda who says what many of them are likely thinking.
“Sith, you claim to be. In the front of the Jedi High Council, you profess your true nature. Foolish, is this not?”
Given more than one Jedi Master’s hand is twitching towards the sabers on their belts, the Grandmaster might have had a point. Except… Vader just shakes his head.
“Foolish? No. What is foolish is thinking that you all can continue to lie to not just each other, but yourselves.”
Everyone goes still. Vader looks at them all, half-expecting one of them to lunge at him to protect their secret. But nobody does.
“You call this the Jedi High Council? No. I look around and I do not see a single Jedi before me. All I see… are those who have Fallen to the Dark Side.”
Again, he pushes the truth of this particular statement into the Force. This time though, he’s also preparing himself for a fight. Surely now one of them will come forth, driven to action in order to shut him up. It’s what he would have done when he was younger, if he’d been called out in the same way.
Kit Fisto certainly looks like he wants to. The young Nautolan suddenly appears quite hunted, and his lightsaber hilt is in his hand. Yet… he does not light it, even as his large black eyes dart to and fro.
Perhaps that’s because he realizes… everyone else is also doing the same. That is, looking around at each other. Vader watches, somewhat pleased, as the realization runs through them all. The most incredulous of glances are directed at Master Yoda. The Fallen Grandmaster, instead of going wild with the Dark Side in that moment… slumps in his chair, curling inward and appearing smaller than he ever has before.
“Failed, we have. All of us.”
Windu’s shoulders slump next and he lets out a rattling sigh.
“Truly? All of us… I never… I thought myself alone. I planned to step down at the end of the war, once things were stable again.”
Shaak Ti’s voice rings out through the room, even if she’s only there as a hologram. None of those present by hologram have shut them off or tried to flee from this conversation, Vader notes. It’s as damning as if they had indeed run, to be fair. They all know now.
“I could not continue to look at what we have done with the clones and stay in the Light. We take children and send them to die in a war none of us should be fighting. And we call that justice? We call that righteous? No… there is nothing good about the slavery we have allowed ourselves to become part of.”
Her words are echoed by others. Plo Koon, for instance, has quite the close relationship with his own clone troops. Vocatus also speaks up in favor of Shaak Ti’s words.
And then there are still others.
“Long have I been able to separate my duty to my species from the attachments that would draw me to the Dark Side. But the deaths on Geonosis pushed me over the edge. I looked to my wives and my children and I came to associate the loss of so many of my peers with eventually losing them. I could not stand it.”
Ki-Adi-Mundi’s heavy tone fills the air. And while maybe not as many Jedi Masters can emphathize with every part of what he’s saying given he’s one of the only Jedi allowed to have a family, they can certainly emphathize with the losses suffered on Geonosis. Depa speaks up here as well, talking about losing her sister.
More comes out. Confessions abound. Vader watches on, curious to see if this will prompt any healing. It would certainly be an issue if any of them found their way back to the Light Side thanks to this, given his plans. But… no. There’s no risk of that. None of them return to the Light. Not even a glimmer of it appears in the Council Chambers. The Dark remains ascendant above all else.
“Disband this Council we must. Move on without us, the Order will.”
Yoda’s words land like a heavy weight… and yet nobody protests. Nobody save Vader, of course.
“You still do not see. Even now, you blind yourselves to the truth. You called me foolish, Master Yoda… but who is the fool, save for the one who thinks this problem is contained to only this room.”
Yoda straightens up, his eyes widening as do many others at the implication. Vader, meanwhile, prepares to pull the curtain back.
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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!
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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/131KYcggPG2sm-FuFk_u7I7xvZQRRSiELmxOazmIr9SE/edit?tab=t.0