1200 Galactica was the most exclusive address in the galaxy. Located in the Political Sector of Coruscant's Northern Hemisphere, it was home to the Chancellor of the Republic.

At sunset on the sixteenth evening of the ninth month of the year, Chancellor Palpatine was not in his quarters. He was in his office within the Galactic Senate building...and he was not alone.

One of the most revered Jedi in the galaxy was present. Countless exploits in battle had earned him the moniker 'The Hero With No Fear', though he indeed felt fear. He was no different than any other human in the galaxy in that regard, despite his reputation.

Fear was not his predominant emotion at the moment. What Anakin Skywalker felt more than anything else was anger. He stood trembling, blue lightsaber drawn and ignited and pointed directly at the Chancellor.

He's a Sith lord! exclaimed his inner voice. He betrayed you...he lied to you and the entire Republic...he's the one who orchestrated this entire war. Kill him!

As if reading Anakin's thoughts, Palpatine addressed him. "Are you going to kill me, Anakin?" It was such a casual question, as if he was asking a passerby on the street the time. Clearly he felt no fear at the idea of being killed. Either he was bluffing or saw Anakin as no threat.

Anakin glowered. "I would certainly like to," he seethed.

Palpatine closed his eyes. "Yes...I know you would," he hissed like a snake and turned around slowly. "I can feel your anger. It gives you focus...makes you stronger."

Anakin prepared to lift his lightsaber high and strike at the evil man. Something stopped him. Wait! What about Padme? If you kill him, you won't be powerful enough to save your wife.

I have to, he argued. He's a Sith Lord!

But your anger is what he wants!

Anakin's limbs trembled with the conflict. He tried to force himself to attack...but he couldn't. He's unarmed. It would be murder.

You must! He's evil.

He's my friend...

He's a Sith!

He's the leader of the Republic...

He is evil...

Padme is going to die!

HE IS EVIL!

The conflict became too much, and Anakin gave a loud cry, bringing down his lightsaber to strike at Palpatine.

From somewhere under his volumnious sleeve, Palpatine produced something long and thin with an almost pearlescent finish. Within a second he had ignited a blood-red lightsaber.

The color of the Sith.

With inhuman strength and speed, he blocked Anakin's slash and wheeled around to face his attacker. "You will not join me?"

Anakin glowered at him with venom. "No."

"Then you will die," snarled the Chancellor. He gave a feral shriek and moved in to attack, spinning like a top and dealing three hard, vicious blows to the young Jedi.

Anakin blocked them, astonished at his speed, before moving in with a counterattack. He swung as fast as he could, speed augmented with the Force, trying to ignore the surge of adrenaline his anger and hatred brought to him. All he knew was how much he hated the man he fought.

But at the same time, with every blow, a part of him didn't want to fight. You can't kill him, it said desperately. He knows how to save Padme!

Why should I believe him? He's lied from the beginning. And so Anakin continued to pummel the Chancellor with blows. Each one was deflected with hardly a pause and countered with another vicious slash.

Sabers whirled like windmills, red meeting blue, blue meeting red in a storm of fiery blades. Within minutes it became clear that Palpatine had the upper hand. He seemed to be toying with the young man, teasing him with openings only to attack before Anakin had the chance to take them.

Normally in a duel there would be taunts tossed back and forth. It had happened to Anakin in his duel with Count Dooku. But this time there was no taunting, at least at first. Anakin was too occupied in fending off the monster to say anything.

Then their blades met and did not move. Sparks flew and crackled. The sharp smell of ozone filled the air. Palpatine leered at Anakin. "It is pointless to resist. You are using the Dark Side as we speak. Your anger and hatred are strong."

Anakin twirled his blade to throw Palpatine's saber aside with a growl, then whipped around to come at his head. This swing was also blocked, sending more sparks into the air.

"Give in...you know that once I am gone, any chance of saving your wife will be lost," said the Chancellor in a low voice.

"You don't care about her," growled Anakin.

"Oh, but I do." Palpatine countered, still giving the young man a look of superiority. He stepped aside and pulled back his blade. "Let me help you."

"I don't need your help. You lied to me," Anakin argued.

"You reject me?" Palpatine's expression grew hollow. "So be it." The voice came in a loud croak, and all pretense fell away.

Anakin recoiled as all doubt was erased in his mind. All he saw now was pure evil. He moved in again, on the attack, swinging for arms, legs, torso...anything within reach. He continued to be amazed as the Chancellor blocked them all and gave a counterattack that Anakin was hard-pressed to block. He gathered strength with a deep breath, reaching for the Force...then unleashed it upon his adversary in the form in a hard Force push.

Palpatine was caught off guard and flew backward with a cry, slamming into the wall. His lightsaber rolled from his fingers.

Anakin gave a grim smile of satisfaction and leapt over the desk that stood between him and the Chancellor.

But Palpatine only glared and lifted his hand. Suddenly a large piece of furniture flew across the room, headed for Anakin.

Anakin was forced to duck and slice the large polished table into two neat pieces before advancing again. His progress was arrested by another piece of furniture as it advanced on him. This was avoided with a tuck and roll to the left. The next four items- chairs, apparently -were cleaved down the middle or Force-pushed aside.

The final item, Palpatine's enormous desk, was missed completely and knocked Anakin off his feet. He gave a cry as a corner of the desk gouged the side of his head just above his left ear and landed behind the desk at his back. By the time he had emerged from the other side the Chancellor was after him again, slashing and lunging for Anakin's chest. He cackled when his lightsaber nicked Anakin's arm and made him stumble backwards.

"You see, young Jedi? Your skills are no match for me." Palpatine sneered disdainfully at his opponent.

Anakin glowered at the Sith, ignoring pain of his wounds. If anything it only increased his determination to strike this Dark Lord down. He firmly gripped his saber in both hands and resumed his attack, moving faster than ever. Finally he sensed Palpatine beginning to tire. With a slash and a vicious kick, Anakin knocked the lightsaber out of the evil man's hand.

Palpatine tripped and fell backwards, scrambling away from Anakin's saber as quickly as he could until his back was against the wall. His eyes- shaded yellow by his anger -were wide in shock.

Without mercy Anakin advanced on the man, breathing heavily and pointing his saber squarely at the Chancellor's chest. "You were saying?" He growled.

For a brief second Palpatine appeared to be nothing more than a frightened old man. Clearly he had not expected to be disarmed. This facade quickly dissolved into another vicious snarl. Without a word he stretched his crooked fingers toward Anakin. Blue Force lightning quickly spewed forth.

Anakin quickly brought up his saber to deflect the lightning, gritting his teeth in strain. Tendrils of the deadly electricity reached him and made him wince, but he persisted in fending off the deadly barrage. To his horror he found that, in sending the electricity back to Palpatine, the man began to grow disfigured and scarred before his eyes. For a moment he felt sympathy for the old man.

That moment was short. After all, if Palpatine was weakening, so would his lightning.

In a minute the lightning did begin to slack off, leaving the Chancellor with horrible folds of drooping flesh on his forehead, as if his skin had begun to melt off. Palpatine panted, apparently exhausted...and surprised at how well Anakin was holding up. "I...can't...hold on," he rasped weakly. "Too weak."

Anakin glared at him. "You lie," he seethed, rearing back with his lightsaber. "This ends now!"

Palpatine's face contorted with momentary fear, then burning hatred. With a shriek of rage, he reached out his arm and called the dropped saber back into his hand. In a single blinding motion he deflected Anakin's blow and then made a quick slash at the young warrior's right leg.

Anakin never saw it coming. Too late he brought his own saber around to block, but Palpatine's blade had already made contact. A searing, agonizing pain exploded in his knee, making him scream and collapse to the floor. He forced himself to open his eyes to see the damage...and froze in complete horror.

His leg was gone, sheared off right through the knee. Bone and cauterized flesh lay exposed. His booted foot and calf lay at a weird angle some distance away.

Anakin screamed again, not just from pain but from terror and rage. Every muscle trembled with shock. Feebly he tried scooting away as the Dark Lord advanced on him.

Palpatine wore a sickening smirk as he put his lightsaber away. "Young fool. I could have given you the galaxy. And you rejected it." More lightning shot from his fingertips and struck Anakin square in the chest.

Again, Anakin cried out. He writhed as the lightning ignited every nerve into blazing agony. He was going to die. But Padme, his inner voice protested. What about Padme?

Slowly the Sith shook his head as he prepared to subject Anakin to another round of frying. "Poor Senator Amidala," he said with mock sympathy. "Now she will die. And it will be all. Your. Fault." Every word was punctuated by a single step toward Anakin, until he was sneering right in Anakin's face.

The scream of denial and rage built in Anakin's chest until he felt as if it would explode. "Nooooo!" Anakin finally screamed. He called his saber back into his hand, ignited it, and plunged it deep into Palpatine's chest, ignoring the lightning that continued to shock him.

A strangled gasp of pain and shock overtook the Sith lord. Abruptly the lightning stopped and he staggered backward. Rage flared in his eyes even as the light faded from them.

Brutally Anakin removed his saber by sliding it to the left with a grunt, slicing through Palpatine's chest and left arm.

The Sith Lord's eyes glazed over and all his breath left in a rush. He was dead by the time he crumpled to the floor in a gruesome heap.

It's over. A shudder passed through Anakin. He deactivated his saber and clipped it back to his belt. Fatigue, horror, and pain hit him all at once, making him fall back upon his elbows with a hoarse gasp. His limbs began to tremble as the reality of what he had done hit him. "I killed him," he whispered. The young Jedi scooted away from Palpatine's dead body, whimpering from more than pain. Images from his nightmare returned. Tears sprang to Anakin's eyes. Oh, no...no, no, no, no...Padme...I don't know how to save her...now-

Anakin choked with fear, leaning against an upholstered ottoman with tears in his eyes. "What have I done?"

Overcome with remorse and pain, Anakin bowed his head and began to sob. "No," he moaned. Fatigue overwhelmed him and he sank to the floor. An arm was flung over his tearful eyes to shut out the horrible scene that he had created.