What if Anakin Skywalker DIDN'T Trust Pong Krell?

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-04

[00:00:01]Darth furist rise.

[00:00:14]What if Anakin didn't trust Pong Crow?

[00:00:16]Let's explore the depths of it in the video. The transmission comes mid briefing. Anakin stands over the hollow table aboard his command ship. Blue light washing across his face as clone officers cycle through Umbar and defense positions. The planet below is a nightmare of dense fog and spiled luminescent forests. The kind of world that eats armies whole. His wristcom chirps priority channel. Chancellor Palpatines's voice fills the room warm and measured. Anakin, my boy, I need your back on Corissant. A matter of the utmost. Strategic importance requires your personal attention.

[00:00:49]>> Anakin stares at the comm. Below him, on that planet's surface, the 50ohirst is dug into hostile terrain against an enemy that knows every shadow, every root system, every killing ground.

[00:00:59]Chancellor, my men are in the middle of a ground assault. Umbara isn't secured.

[00:01:03]If I leave now, >> a temporary reassignment, nothing more.

[00:01:06]Master Krell will assume command of your battalion. He is a decorated general, Anakin. Your men will be in capable hands.

[00:01:12]>> Penrell. Anakin has heard the name.

[00:01:15]Basilisk Jedi Master. High victory count, higher casualty count. The kind of general who measures success and objectives taken, not soldiers returned.

[00:01:23]With respect, Chancellor, I'd prefer to finish what I started here. The 50irst operates best.

[00:01:28]>> Visit a request, Anakin. The council has approved the reassignment. I expect you on Corissant within the day.

[00:01:33]>> The transmission cuts. Anakin stands motionless, his hands still hovering over the hollow table. Around him, clone officers exchange glances, but say nothing. They've learned to read their general silences. Something feels wrong.

[00:01:45]The feeling sits low in his gut. He's felt it before on Tatooine. The night before his mother died, a pull in the force that whispers, "Pay attention."

[00:01:53]Rex approaches, helmet tucked under his arm. "General, orders." Krill's taking over. Chancellor's pulling me back to Coruscant. Krelll, the one from Sesh.

[00:02:04]Anakin doesn't answer. They both know Krelll's reputation. Rex lost friends under generals like that. Pong Krelll arrives on Umbara like a stormfront.

[00:02:12]Four arms, two lightsabers, a voice that carries across entire formations without effort. His first order sends three platoon into a frontal assault against fortified Umbar and positions straight into the teeth of the enemy's strongest defenses. Rex objects. Krelll shuts him down with a single sentence.

[00:02:28]>> You were bred for combat, Captain, not strategy. Execute the order.

[00:02:32]>> The assault costs 37 men in the first hour. Positions that Anakin would have taken through infiltration and flanking.

[00:02:38]Krelll takes through attrition. The 50irst bleeds for every meter of ground.

[00:02:42]Fives pulls Rex aside after the second assault. He's a Jedi, General Fives. We follow orders. General Skywalker wouldn't have given those orders.

[00:02:50]>> Rex says nothing because Fives is right.

[00:02:52]Aboard his shuttle on route to Coruscant, Anakin sits in the pilot seat, autopilot engaged. The stars streak past, but he's not watching them.

[00:02:59]His eyes are closed. His breathing is slow. The force ripples. Pain, fear, familiar presences dimming one after another. His men, his brothers, dying in waves, faster than any battlefield should allow. The sensation hits him like a fist to the chest. Anakin's eyes snap open. His hands grip the armrests.

[00:03:16]He reaches deeper. The force shows him fragments. Rex shouting orders under heavy fire. Clones dragging wounded brothers behind cover that's being systematically destroyed. Above it all, a cold presence. Krelll unmoved, unconcerned, watching his men die with the detachment of someone observing insects. Anakin's jaw clenches. He sits with it for exactly 3 seconds. Then he disengages the autopilot, grabs the flight controls, and banks the shuttle hard. The stars wheel as the ship comes about, pointing back toward Umbara. He opens a channel. The political fallout begins before he even reaches the system. His shuttle's transponder logs the course change. Within minutes, the Jedi Temple registers the deviation.

[00:03:53]Within an hour, Palpatines's office flags it. Anakin ignores three priority transmissions from the council. He ignores two from the Chancellor's office. He focuses on one thing, reaching his men before there are no men left to reach. His reputation buys him time. The hero with no fear. The chosen one. General Stone to rest. Legends mid war. not without creating a scandal that would shake public confidence in the entire campaign. The council knows this.

[00:04:15]Palpatine knows this. Anakin is counting on it. He drops out of hyperspace above Umbara and immediately picks up fragmented clone communications, distress signals overlapping, unit designation scrambled, and then something that freezes his blood.

[00:04:27]>> CHECK YOUR TARGETS. CHECK YOUR TARGETS.

[00:04:29]THOSE ODON BARONS, THOSE >> THE transmission dissolves into static and blaster fire. Anakin pushes the shuttle's engines past their safety limits, burning through the atmosphere towards the signal's origin. The viewport fills with fog and phosphorous light as Umbara's surface rushes up to meet him. He lands on a ridge overlooking a valley choked with weapons fire. What he sees makes no sense.

[00:04:49]Clones fighting clones. Two Republic battalions engaged in full combat against each other. Both convinced they're fighting disguised. Kra's work.

[00:04:57]The realization hits immediately.

[00:04:58]Different frequencies. Falsified intelligence reports. He turns them against each other. Anakin leaps from the shuttle before the ramp fully extends. The force amplifies his voice across the valley, cutting through the chaos.

[00:05:10]>> Cease fire. ALL UNITS, CEASE FIRE.

[00:05:13]You're shooting on your own brothers.

[00:05:14]>> The fighting stutters. Helmets turn.

[00:05:16]Clones on both sides of the valley lower their weapons as recognition dons. The silence that follows is worse than the battle. The brothers staring at brothers across a field of bodies they created.

[00:05:26]Rex stands at the center of it, his armor scorched, his blaster still raised. He looks at the trooper across from him. The trooper looks back. Same face, same armor, same Republic insignia.

[00:05:37]Killing our own. The words carry across the valley. Somewhere, a clone drops to his knees beside a body and doesn't get back up. Anakin turns toward the command post. His stride is deliberate. His lightsaber isn't drawn, but the force gathers around him like a storm building behind clear skies. Krelll stands in the mobile command center, all four arms clasped behind his back, studying tactical displays as though nothing unusual has occurred. When Anakin enters, the Basilisk turns slowly. His expression shows no surprise. No guilt, just cold appraisal.

[00:06:04]>> Skywalker, you were reassigned. Your presence here is a direct violation of it.

[00:06:09]>> You ordered my men to kill each other.

[00:06:11]>> I ordered soldiers to engage hostile targets. If if their identification protocols failed, that reflects their training, not my command decisions.

[00:06:19]>> The clones gathering behind Anakin tents. Rex's hand drifts towards his sidearm. Fives has already unclipped his holster.

[00:06:26]>> 37 dead in your first assault. Another 20 in the second. And now this. Brothers killing brothers because you fed them false intel.

[00:06:33]>> You count their deaths as though they matter. The clones are replaceable.

[00:06:37]Skywalker Kamino produces them by the thousands. The objective is what matters. Victory is what matters.

[00:06:44]>> We're not replaceable.

[00:06:45]>> Your attachment to these units is precisely why the council removed you.

[00:06:49]Sentimentality makes you weak. Makes your decisions predictable. A true Jedi understands sacrifice. A true Jedi doesn't sacrifice his own men for sport.

[00:06:58]You still believe in this, don't you?

[00:07:00]The Republic, the Order, the great Jedi crusade for peace and justice.

[00:07:06]The Republic will fall, Skywalker. The Jedi will be destroyed. I've seen it.

[00:07:12]The dark side has shown me the future, and it belongs to the Sith.

[00:07:16]>> The admission lands like a detonation.

[00:07:18]Behind Anakin, clones raise their weapons. Rex's blaster clears his holster.

[00:07:22]>> I was going to deliver your precious battalion to Count Dooku as a gift.

[00:07:26]proof of my loyalty to the coming empire. But you've disrupted that timeline. So, let me offer you something instead. Join me. You feel it, too, Skywalker. The force screaming that something is wrong. The war that never ends. The council that never trusts you.

[00:07:43]The chancellor who pulls your strings like a puppet. You know the truth. You just lack the courage to claim it. I've heard enough. The duel erupts. Krelll is a force of nature. two lightsabers spinning in coordinated arcs, two blue and two green, creating a defensive and offensive matrix that would overwhelm most Jedi instantly. His basilisk physiology gives him reach and power that no human can match through strength alone. Anakin fights differently. He gives ground deliberately, reading Krell's patterns. The basilisk is powerful but rigid. His technique relies on overwhelming force. Two blades, four arms, constant pressure, no breathing room. But Anakin has spent years fighting opponents stronger than him.

[00:08:20]He's dual Dooku. He's fought Ventress.

[00:08:22]He survived engagements that killed better swordsmen. He ducks under a horizontal sweep from Krell's upper arms, rolls past a thrust from the lower pair, and comes up beside the bezelisk's guard. His lightsaber catches one of Krelll's blades at the emitter, sending it spinning across the room. Three sabers now. Krelll presses harder, fury replacing calculation. His strikes come faster. You talk about the future like you've already won it, but you're losing right now.

[00:08:46]>> Krelll roars and brings all three remaining blades down in a crushing overhead strike. Anakin catches it on his side blade. the force reinforcing his arms. His boots scraping across the floor from impact. Rex fires. A single bolt catches Krelll in the shoulder. The bezel snars, turning his head for just a moment. Anakin strikes, his blade disarms another hand. Then a savage kick powered by the force sends Krelll crashing through the command cent's wall and out into the Umbaran fog. Krell staggers to his feet. Two lightsabers still gripped in his remaining functional hands. Blood runs from the blaster wound. His eyes burn with hatred. Anakin advances, lightsaber raised for the killing blow, and stops.

[00:09:21]He looks at Krelll, beaten, bleeding, defiant, and he sees himself in a possible future. A Jedi standing over a fallen enemy, executing them without trial, becoming exactly what Krelll accused the order of being. You'll face the council for what you've done. The council? Your precious council won't exist in a year, Skywalker. And you'll wish you'd killed me when you had the chance.

[00:09:44]>> An explosion rocks the ground.

[00:09:45]Separatist ships hidden in underground hangers that the Republic forces never secured roar to life. Krelll moves with surprising speed for his injuries.

[00:09:53]Leaping under the ramp of a rising transport. Umbar and resistance fighters loyal to their own cause and willing to work with anyone against the Republic.

[00:10:00]Cover his retreats with anti-aircraft fire that forces the clones to scatter.

[00:10:04]>> Will me again, Skywalker. And next time your hesitation will cost you more than a prisoner.

[00:10:09]>> The ship disappears into Embara's toxic atmosphere. Anakin watches it go, his lightsaber still humming in his hand.

[00:10:16]General, should we pursue? No. Secure the wounded. All of them. That's our priority. He looks across the valley at the bodies, at the clones helping their brothers. At the damage one corrupted Jedi caused in a matter of days. The clones are saved, but something worse has been set loose. The Jedi Council chamber feels colder than Anakin remembers. 12 seats arranged in a circle, most occupied by holographic projections of masters deployed across the galaxy. Only Yoda, Wu, and Obi-Wan are present. In the flesh, Wu speaks first. His tone leaves no room for interpretation. You abandoned a direct assignment from the Supreme Chancellor.

[00:10:50]You violated explicit council orders.

[00:10:52]You engaged in unauthorized combat operations, and you allowed a prisoner to escape. I saved the lives of 200 clones who were being systematically slaughtered by a traitor wearing Jedi robes. The results of your actions do not excuse the methods. You are hereby suspended from active command pending a formal investigation. Your lightsaber will be surrendered to the temple guard.

[00:11:11]You're disarming me, >> Anakin. The council has to respond to this. You defied a direct order during wartime if we don't hold our own accountable. Accountable? Krelll murdered clones for sport and was planning to defect to the separatists.

[00:11:24]Where's his accountability? Where was the council's oversight when he was butchering my men? Faded, your concerns are, young Skywalker failed in our vigilance, the council did. But justify your actions. This does not dangerous the precedent you set. If every Jedi general abandoned orders when they disagree, >> then maybe the orders are the problem, master. Maybe blind obedience to a system that lets men like Krelll command is worse than one Jedi following his instincts. Your lightsaber, Skywalker.

[00:11:51]Now Anakin stares at Wu. Then he uncips his lightsaber and places it on the floor. The metallic sound echoes through the chamber. When Krell resurfaces and people start dying again, remember this moment.

[00:12:01]>> He turns and walks out. The door is closed behind him. In the corridor, Obi-Wan catches up. His expression is different from the one he wore inside the chamber.

[00:12:09]>> That went well. You call that well? I call it convincing, which is the point.

[00:12:14]The suspension's real on paper. Every record and report will show you who stripped of command under formal review, but Yoda in Wu agreed before the session. A suspended Jedi draws less attention than an active general conducting an off books manhunt. You plan this? That was all performance in there. Krell is out there building alliances with separatists. We need someone tracking him who can operate outside normal channels. Someone the council can publicly deny any connection to.

[00:12:40]>> Anakin takes the lightsaber. The weight of it settles something in his chest.

[00:12:45]>> So, I'm too dangerous to command, but useful enough to hunt a rogue darker alone. Not alone. I'll be coordinating intelligence from the temple. And Anakin, the suspension has to look real.

[00:12:55]No contact with the 50irst. No official Republic channels. If Kredle or his new allies intercept any communication linking you to an active council operation, this falls apart. Understood, master. Find him before he becomes someone else's weapon. Meanwhile, Kra reaches separatist space, battered and bleeding, carrying stolen intelligence and burning hatred. Count Dooku receives him in the austere halls of his compound on Sereno, flanked by Magna Guards whose electrostaffs hum.

[00:13:24]>> A Jedi master seeking asylum with the Confederacy. How unusual and how desperate. I'm offering my services. I know the Republic's military strategies, their command structures, the weaknesses, and I've seen the future the dark side promises.

[00:13:40]>> The dark side promises nothing, Master Crow. It reveals. And what it reveals depends entirely on one's ability to interpret its visions. I came because the Jedi Order is doomed. The Republic is rotting. And I intend to be on the winning side when it collapses. Then prove it. Words are cheap. The dark side demands payment and action.

[00:14:02]>> The trials Dooku designs are brutal.

[00:14:04]Missions against Republic outposts where Krelll must destroy former allies.

[00:14:08]Combat tests against Magnagards reprogrammed to fight at lethal intensity. Interrogations where his knowledge of Jedi tactics is extracted through methods that leave psychological scars. Krelll endures at all of it. His two lightsabers make him devastating against conventional opponents. His power in the force is substantial. And every mission he exceeds expectations.

[00:14:27]Every new asset, every recruited agent, every shift in separatist strategy is supposed to pass through Cidius first.

[00:14:34]That is the arrangement. That has always been the arrangement. But Dooku has spent decades watching his master discard tools the moment a better one appears. He was a Jedi once. Before that, he was Yoda's student. He knows what expendability looks like from the inside. Kra is powerful, brutal, undisiplined. With time and proper training, the bezelisk could become something useful, something that serves Dooku's interests rather than Cidius's.

[00:14:59]An apprentice of his own, a weapon pointed at the master should the day come when Cidius decides Lord Tyrannis has outlived his purpose. So Dooku keeps Krelll hidden. Missions are logged under false identifiers. Communications are routed through encrypted channels Cidius doesn't monitor. For weeks, it works.

[00:15:15]Then Cidius finds out anyway. The transmission arrives while Dooku is off world. Krelll stands alone in the communication chamber when the hologram activates unbidden. A cloaked figure materializes. The dark side radiates through the projection itself.

[00:15:29]>> You must be the asset my apprentice has been hiding from me. I've been watching you for some time. Your mission, your results, your potential, all of it hidden from me by a man who fears being replaced.

[00:15:46]>> What do you mean? Dooku is a capable servant, but he is exactly that, a servant. He will teach you what he knows, which is considerable, but what he knows is a fraction of what I possess. The dark side has depths Dooku has never touched. Powers he cannot comprehend, let alone teach.

[00:16:08]>> What would you have me do?

[00:16:10]>> For now, exactly what you've been doing.

[00:16:13]Serve Dooku. Complete his missions.

[00:16:16]Learn what he teaches, but know that your true loyalty belongs to me. And when the time comes, I will call on that loyalty.

[00:16:26]>> Understood, master.

[00:16:28]>> When Dooku returns, Kra says nothing. He trains. He fights. He obeys. And behind his eyes, a different allian allegiance takes root. The tension between them builds anyway. Cidius feels it deliberately through private transmissions with Kra. A word of praise here. A subtle comparison there. Dooku's decades of loyal service measured against Krelll's raw results.

[00:16:47]>> Adequate. Your tactics were crude, but effective. Crude? Funny. I've been told I have strategic visions others lack.

[00:16:56]>> After the fourth mission, a coordinated strike on a Republic supply convoy that cripples three systems war effort.

[00:17:02]Something changes. Dooku enters his private communication chamber and finds a holographic transmission already in progress. Kra stands at the center of the room, speaking to a cloaked figure whose face is hidden in shadow.

[00:17:12]Impressive work on the hiding way convoy. Krelll Durku's reports don't do justice to the scale of your accomplishments. Three supply lines severed in a single operation. Even my apprentice required two attempts for comparable results.

[00:17:28]>> The Republic's logistics network has predictable vulnerabilities. Their Jedi commanders are too focused on frontline combats to properly secure their supply chains.

[00:17:37]>> Precisely the kind of strategic thinking I value. You see beyond the individual battle to the larger war. A rare quality.

[00:17:47]>> Master, I was not informed you wished to speak with our guest directly.

[00:17:52]>> An oversight, Lord Tyrannis. I was simply expressing my appreciation for Kell's contributions.

[00:17:59]You've trained him well.

[00:18:01]>> The compliment is calculated. It positions Krelll as Dooku's achievement while simultaneously elevating Krelll above Dooku's direct control. Dooku recognizes the technique immediately.

[00:18:12]>> You contacted my master without authorization. He contacted me. I simply answered. Be very careful, Krill. You are useful, but useful tools that overstep their function tend to break.

[00:18:25]Then perhaps you should ensure I remain useful. Count rather than threaten.

[00:18:30]>> Dooku's hand drifts towards his lightsaber. He catches himself, but Krelll sees the movement and smiles.

[00:18:35]Meanwhile, on Coruscant, Anakin and Obi-Wan piece together Krell's trail.

[00:18:39]They follow intelligence reports, destroyed Republic outposts bearing the signature of a four armored combatant.

[00:18:45]Separatist communications intercepted by Republic intelligence, referencing a new asset operating under Dooku's direct command. The trail leads to the Rishi Maze outskirts where a Republic medical station has gone dark. The station's last transmission referenced a separatist assault led by a bezelisk wielding multiple lightsabers alongside a human male with a curved hilt blade.

[00:19:05]Krelll and Dooku operating together.

[00:19:07]They hit the station 6 hours ago. If we move now, we might intercept them before they reach separatist space. We'll catch them. Anakin, this is reconnaissance. We confirm the location and report back to the council. We do not engage two dark side users alone. Of course, Master, why does that response never reassure me?

[00:19:24]They arrive at the edge of a debris field, a Republic cruiser gutted and drifting, surrounded by the wreckage of its escorts, and beyond it, two ships, Dooku Solar Sailor, Krelll's stolen Separatist frigot. Both grounded on the surface of a barren moon, their crews establishing a temporary staging area.

[00:19:40]Anakin and Obi-Wan set down behind a ridgeeline and approach on foot, using the force to mask their presence. What they find changes everything. In the storage area's central command tent, Krelll and Dooku face each other, two lightsabers against one. The argument has clearly been building for some time.

[00:19:54]>> You forget yourself, Krelll. You are a recruit, a probationary asset. You do not dictate operational priorities to me. And you forget that your master sees my value more clearly than you do. Every time we speak, he praises my results.

[00:20:09]Every time we speak, he questions yours.

[00:20:12]My master's methods are not your concern. Your master told me I have strategic vision. You lack. His words, not mine. Something shifts in Dooku's expression. The aristocratic composure cracks beneath it. Fear. The cold, specific fear of a man who has spent decades serving a master he knows will discard him the moment someone better comes along.

[00:20:31]>> You have overstepped for the last time, then settle it.

[00:20:35]>> The duel is vicious. Dooku's Makashi is refined to perfection. Every thrust and repost economical, but Krelll fights with four arms and accumulated fury. His blades come from impossible angles.

[00:20:45]Where Dooku defends one attack, two more are already in motion. Anakin and Obi-Wan watch from the ridge, frozen.

[00:20:51]They're going to kill each other. Good.

[00:20:53]Let them. Anakin, one less enemy to fight. Master Dooku fights brilliantly.

[00:20:58]His blade work is masterclass and form two precision. He exploits gaps between Krelll's attacks, lands cuts across the bezelisk's arms and torso. Draws blood with surgical efficiency, but Krelll absorbs the punishment. Keeps coming.

[00:21:10]Every wound fuels his rage. Every cut makes him faster, more desperate, more willing to trade injury for advantage.

[00:21:16]It isn't enough. Dooku's Makashi finds the gaps in Krelll's fury with surgical precision. A low sweep takes Krelll's front knee. The bezelisk stumbles. Dooku follows up and disarms his right hand with a flick of the wrist, sending the first lightsaber spinning across the dirt. A force push does the rest. Krelll crashes onto his back, his second saber tumbling from his grip and landing 10 ft away. Dooku stands over him, blade raised, calm, elegant. Final crude to the last.

[00:21:42]>> On the ridge, Obi-Wan grabs Anakin's arm. We have to stop this. If Dooku kills him, we lose our only lead to the Second Sith.

[00:21:49]>> They move. Both Jedi leap from the ridge, landing in the staging area with lightsabers drawn. Dooku's blade freezes mid-strike. His eyes shift to the new arrivals. That's enough, Dooku. Step away from him.

[00:22:00]>> Dooku straightens, turning to face them fully. His composure returns instantly.

[00:22:04]As though the duel with Krelll was a minor inconvenience. Kenobi and young Skywalker, what a delightful surprise.

[00:22:11]Have you come to rescue a traitor or simply to die alongside one? We've come for both of you. Both of us, two Jedi against a Sith Lord. We've played this game before, Skywalker. As I recall, it cost you an arm. Things change. Clearly, the order has fallen so far that you're now defending the very creature who slaughtered your clones. How poetic.

[00:22:32]>> The Force shifts behind him. Dooku senses it a fraction too late. Krelll's remaining upper hand shoots out. The force yanks his first lightsaber off the ground and back into his grip. The blade ignites and drives toward Dooku's back.

[00:22:43]Dooku spins, catching the strike on his own blade. Their weapons lock. Dooku's eyes narrow with cold fury.

[00:22:49]>> Unpredictable. They predict this.

[00:22:51]>> His lower hand reaches out. The second lightsaber, the one lying 10 ft away, flies across the dirt and into his waiting palm. It ignites mid-flight.

[00:22:58]Dooku doesn't see it. His focus is locked in the blade, pressing against his guard. The second saber buries itself through his back and out through his chest. Dooku's eyes widen. His lightsaber deactivates. His hand opens.

[00:23:09]He looks down at the blade protruding from his body with an expression of pure disbelief.

[00:23:14]>> My master will not forgive this. Your master already has.

[00:23:21]>> Dooku, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, apprentice to Darth Cidius, falls. Anakin and Obi-Wan stare.

[00:23:28]The galaxy's political landscape has just shifted beneath their feet. Krelll deactivates both sabers and rises to his feet, bleeding from a dozen wounds. He looks at Anakin, then at Obi-Wan, then back at Anakin.

[00:23:40]>> I'd stay and finish what we started on Ombara, but I have a meeting to arrange.

[00:23:45]>> You're not going anywhere, Krell.

[00:23:46]>> You can chase me, Kenobi, or you can secure the body of the separatist leader lying at your feet and end half a war.

[00:23:53]Your choice.

[00:23:54]>> Anakin moves to pursue, but Obi-Wan grabs his shoulder. He's right. Dooku's body is proof the council needs to see this. Craboard boards his ship. The engines scream. He lifts off before they can close the distance, vanishing into the atmosphere.

[00:24:06]>> Then we need to find out who the master is that's doing the replacing.

[00:24:10]>> The holographic transmission activates in Krell's ship. Cidius's cloaked figure materializes, and when he speaks, his voice carries genuine satisfaction.

[00:24:18]>> Lord Tyrannis has fallen. A loss, but also an opportunity. You've proven yourself beyond what I anticipated.

[00:24:27]Krell, >> I want his position.

[00:24:29]>> Patience. The rule of two governs the Sith for a good reason. But I see no reason you cannot serve as my intram apprentice. There is much I can teach you. Much power I can share.

[00:24:42]>> And Skywalker.

[00:24:44]>> Skywalker remains important to my plans.

[00:24:47]His power in the Force is unmatched. In time, I intend to bring him into our fold as well. The three of us working together could reshape this galaxy in ways even the ancient Sith never imagined. Three. You said the rule of two governs the Sith.

[00:25:03]>> Rules evolve, Krell, as circumstances demand.

[00:25:08]>> The transmission ends. Krelll sits in the pilot seat, staring at the streaking stars of hyperspace. His four hands grip the armrests. Three. Cidius wants three.

[00:25:16]Himself, Krelll, and Skywalker. But the rule of two exists for a reason. The master keeps the apprentice useful until a better one comes along. Then the old apprentice is discarded. Dooku served for decades. loyal, effective, powerful, and Cidius praised Krelll for killing him, celebrated it, called it an opportunity. If Skywalker joins, how long before Cidius praises Skywalker for killing Krelll? How long before the new apprentice becomes the old one? How long before Intram becomes expired? The pattern is clear. Dooku was useful until Krelll arrived. Kra will be useful until Skywalker turns. And then Crow will be disposed of just like Dooku. Just like every tool the Sith ever wielded.

[00:25:53]>> You taught me something, old man. You taught me exactly how this ends.

[00:25:58]>> A decision forms. If the Sith Master will eventually discard him, then the Sith Master must be destroyed first. But Krelll still does not know who he is.

[00:26:06]The hologram always shows a cloaked figure, a hidden face, a disguised voice. To kill the spider, he first has to find the web. Over the following weeks, Kra plays the role of loyal apprentice. He completes every mission Cidius assigns. He accepts instruction and dark side teachings with apparent gratitude. In between each every lesson, every transmission, every carefully worded exchange, he probes.

[00:26:28]>> Master, your knowledge of Republic politics is remarkably precise. Your insights into Senate procedure suggest firsthand familiarity.

[00:26:36]>> I have cultivated sources within every level of Republic governance.

[00:26:40]Information is the true currency of power.

[00:26:43]>> Sources or experience?

[00:26:46]>> Curiosity is healthy, apprentice, but there are things you're not yet ready to know. Kell accepts the deflection, but he files every detail. Cidius knows Senate voting schedules before they're published. He references conversations between senators that occurred in private. He predicts military developments with accuracy that suggests access to Republic command channels.

[00:27:05]Whoever the Sith Lord is, he's inside the Republic, not just infiltrating it, embedded in it. At the highest levels, Krelll must make his move after a month of careful manipulation.

[00:27:16]>> Master, I've proven my loyalty. I've killed for you. I've bled for you. I've destroyed my former life to serve your vision. But I cannot serve a shadow forever. If I am to be your true apprentice, I need to know who you are.

[00:27:30]I need to stand before you face to face.

[00:27:33]>> Cidius considers this for a long moment.

[00:27:36]The hooded figure is still. Then slowly he nods.

[00:27:40]>> Very well. You've earned this. I will send you coordinates. Come alone.

[00:27:48]>> Of course.

[00:27:49]Master, >> the transmission ends. Krelll immediately opens a second channel, encrypted, bounced through 17 relay stations, routed through decommissioned separatist communication networks. He transmits his coordinates to a frequency he knows Anakin Skywalker has been monitoring for weeks. The same frequency the 50irst used on Umbara, the one Krell memorized during his time commanding Anakin's men. Just coordinates and a time stamp. Anakin stares at the data on screen. The coordinates point to Cabal, a remote planet in the expansion region.

[00:28:19]The frequency is unmistakable.

[00:28:21]>> It's him, Krelll.

[00:28:23]>> It could be a trap.

[00:28:24]>> It probably is, but he's leading us somewhere. And whoever he's meeting there is worth more to him than killing us.

[00:28:30]>> You think he's found the second Sith?

[00:28:32]>> I think he wants us to find the second Sith. The question is why? Then we go carefully and we go together. Cabal is a world of black rock and thin atmosphere.

[00:28:40]Its surface scarred by ancient volcanic activity. Kra stands on a plateau overlooking a vast canyon, the wind pulling at his cloak. A shuttle descends from the clouds and lands on the plateau's far edge. The ramp lowers and a cloaked figure descends. The figure reaches the center of the plateau and Krelll feels the dark side radiating from him in waves, stronger than Dooku, stronger than anything Krelll has ever encountered. Apprentice, at last we meet properly.

[00:29:07]>> Master, I am honored.

[00:29:10]>> A fitting place away from prying eyes.

[00:29:13]away from the distractions of the war.

[00:29:15]>> Master, I've served faithfully. I've asked nothing in return except the truth. Who are you? What face does the most powerful being in the galaxy wear?

[00:29:26]>> Cidius stands still for a moment, then his hands raised to his hood. He pulls it back. Krelll's blood turns cold.

[00:29:33]The face beneath the hood is the most recognizable face in the galaxy. The kindly smile, the aged features, the grandfatherly warmth that has reassured a Republic at war for over a decade.

[00:29:43]Chancellor Palpatine.

[00:29:45]>> You You're the Chancellor.

[00:29:47]>> I am the Republic, Krell. I have been for far longer than anyone suspects.

[00:29:54]>> The war. Both sides. You control everything. The Separatists were my creation. The clone army was my commission. The Jedi's deployment as generals was my design. Every battle, every treaty, every emergency vote that expanded my authority was orchestrated, planned, executed with precision. Then the future I saw already written. The Republic becomes the Empire. The Jedi are destroyed. Order replaces chaos. And those wise enough to stand at my side will share in the power of what comes next.

[00:30:31]>> Like Dooku stood at your side.

[00:30:33]Palpatines's smile holds that something shifts behind his eyes.

[00:30:37]>> Dooku served you for years, decades. He built your confederacy. He fought your war. And when I killed him, you celebrated, called it an opportunity.

[00:30:47]>> Lord Tyrannis understood the nature of our agreement. The strong replace the weak. That is the way of the Sith.

[00:30:55]>> And when Skywalker replaces me, will you celebrate that, too? Call it another opportunity. You're letting fear cloud your judgment, apprentice.

[00:31:04]>> Fear? No, Chancellor. This is clarity.

[00:31:08]The first real clarity I've had since I left the Jedi order.

[00:31:12]>> The force shifts. Palpatine feels it a moment before the confirmation reaches him. Two presences growing stronger, approaching fast from the canyon below.

[00:31:20]Familiar presences, one bright and furious, one steady and controlled. You shared your coordinates, didn't you? I did. You think this changes anything? You think Skywalker and Kenobi can stop what I've built?

[00:31:34]Kell ignites his two sabers, the blades humming in the thin atmosphere.

[00:31:38]>> I don't have to stop you, Chancellor. I just have to keep you here long enough for them to see your face.

[00:31:44]>> Palpatines's expression transforms. The Chancellor vanishes. In his place stands Darth Cidius, and the dark side erupts from him in a wave that cracks the stone beneath their feet. Then you will die for nothing. The red blade ignites.

[00:31:56]Cidius attacks. Krell is strong. Fore arms, two lightsabers. Raw power that surpassed most Jedi masters. Against Cidius, it lasts 90 seconds. The Sith Lord moves with speed that defies his apprentice. His blade slips past Krelll's double guard, scoring deep cuts across his arms and torso. The force lightning erupts between strikes, crackling across Krelll's body, driving him backward step by step. Krelll fights through the pain. He swings wide with both blades, trying to use his reach advantage. Cidius ducks under both strikes, spins and drives his blade through Krell's lower upright arm. The limb falls. One of Krelll's lightsabers clatters to the ground. Krelll roars. He catches Cidius's next strike on his remaining blade, locks the weapons, and drives his free hand forward in a force push that sends the Sith Lord sliding back across the plateau. Lightning surges from Cidius's free hand. Krelll raises his saber to absorb it, but the intensity drives him to his knees. The stone around him glows white from the energy discharge. Across the canyon, Anakin and Obi-Wan see the lightning.

[00:32:52]That's force lightning. Someone is fighting up there. Krelll. He found whoever he was looking for.

[00:32:57]>> They scale the canyon walls in seconds, force propelling them up the rock face.

[00:33:01]The plateau stretches before them, and with it the sight of the battle. Krelll is on his knees, burns covering his body, one arm severed, his single remaining lightsaber flickering from damage. This is standing over him, lightning still crackling from his fingertips, is a figure in dark robes.

[00:33:15]The figure turns. Anakin's world stops.

[00:33:17]Chancellor Palpatine looks back at him, but the eyes are yellow. The face is twisted with dark side energy. The lightsaber in his hand glows red. No.

[00:33:26]Yes. Skywalker, your chancellor, your mentor, your friend.

[00:33:34]He's the Sith Lord. He's been the Sith Lord since before you were born.

[00:33:39]Every moment was a lie designed to turn you into his weapon.

[00:33:44]>> Anakin, my boy, don't listen to this traitor. He's trying to manipulate you, just as the Jedi always have. It's over, Chancellor. They can see what you are.

[00:33:55]What I am is the most powerful being in this galaxy. What I am is the man who ended a thousand years of Sith waiting.

[00:34:03]What I am is inevitable. Anakin stares at the man who held his shoulder when he was 9 years old and scared. Who told him he was special when the council said he was dangerous? Who made him feel seen when the order made him feel invisible.

[00:34:15]All of it was a lie.

[00:34:17]>> I trusted you. And I valued that trust, Anakin, more than you'll ever know. But trust is a tool, and tools serve their purpose. Cyius fights with the full weight of the dark side. Force lightning and continuous sheets, telekinetic attacks that rip boulders from the ground and hurl them at lethal velocity.

[00:34:34]His lightsaber work shifts between forms faster than the eye can track. Obi-Wan anchors their defense. Every bolt of lightning, every hurled stone, every wild slash of the red blade meets his blue plasma in perfect interception. He gives ground slowly, conserving energy, keeping Cidius from isolating any single opponent. Anakin attacks in the gaps when Cidius commits to a lightning burst against Obi-Wan. Anakin strikes from the flank. When Cidius turns to engage Anakin, Obi-Wan presses forward. The partnership they built across years of war holds Master and Apprentice, moving as one. Krell fights from the ground, barely standing, one arm gone, burns covering his body. But he still has three functional hands and a lightsaber.

[00:35:12]And every time Cidius gains momentum, Krelll throws himself into the path, absorbing strikes meant for the others.

[00:35:17]Lightning erupts from both of Cidius's hands, Krelll steps into the stream, catching it onto his blade, his body convulsing. The bezelisk screams, but holds his ground, giving Anakin and Obi-Wan the opening they need. Obi-Wan strikes from the left. Cidius parries, but the force of the blow turns his body. Anakin comes from the right, blade low. Cidius catches it on the guard, but the angle is wrong. He's overextended, committed to defending two vectors simultaneously. Crow drives forward one last time. His lightsaber buries itself in Cidius's back. The Sith Lord's eyes widen. Cidius's lightning explodes outward in an uncontrolled burst. Crow takes the full discharge at point blank range. His massive body lifts off the ground and crashes 30 ft across the plateau. His lightsaber dies, but Cidius is staggered, wounded, his concentration fractured. Anakin doesn't hesitate. His blade cuts through the Sith Lord's remaining defenses in three strokes. Low sweep, rising diagonally, the final thrust. Darth Cidius falls. The dark side recedes. The oppressive weight that Anakin has felt in the Force his entire life without knowing its source lifts.

[00:36:20]The galaxy exhales. Anakin stands over the body. His chest heaves. Burns Mark his arms and face. Obi-Wan limps to his side, exhausted, bleeding from a cut above his eyes. It's done.

[00:36:33]It's done. A weak voice from across the plateau.

[00:36:38]>> Skywalker.

[00:36:39]>> Anakin crosses the plateau to where Krell lies broken. The bezelisk's body is ruined. Lightning burns cover every surface. His severed arm leaks blood that pools on the dark stone. His breath is shallow, rattling, but his remaining hand reaches into his cloak and produces a data pad, battered, scorched, but intact.

[00:36:58]Everything.

[00:36:59]Recordings. Communications between Cidius and Dupu.

[00:37:05]Orders for the Colin army. Financial records.

[00:37:10]Evidence the Senate can't ignore.

[00:37:12]>> Anakin takes the data pad.

[00:37:15]>> I didn't do this for you or the Republic or your pathetic order.

[00:37:21]>> I know. I did it. Because he used me, just like he used Dooku. Just like he used everyone. And I refuse to be a footnote in someone else's empire.

[00:37:34]>> His eyes close. His breathing goes shallow. Anakin watches him for a moment, then turns to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan kneels beside Krelll, checking for a pulse. Faint, barely there, but present.

[00:37:46]>> He's alive. Barely.

[00:37:48]>> Then we bring him in. The council can decide what to do with him.

[00:37:51]>> Agreed. But the evidence comes first. If we don't get this to the Senate before Palpatines's loyalists can regroup, "Then let's move." They carry Krelll's broken body to their ship. The bezilisk doesn't stir. His breathing stays thin and shallow the entire flight back to Coruscant. The Senate Chamber erupts when the evidence is presented.

[00:38:09]Holographic recordings of Palpatine and Sith robes directing Dooku. Financial records tracing the Clone Army's commission to the Chancellor's hidden accounts. Communication logs proving he orchestrated both sides of the Clone Wars. Bale Orana leads the emergency session. Mon Mothma seconds the initiative. Within days, the full scope of Palpatines's deception unravels. The war ends without Cidius coordinated both sides. Without Dooku commanding the Separatist military, the Confederacy's leadership fractures overnight. The droid armies shut down system by system as command signals stop transmitting.

[00:38:39]Occupied worlds begin the long process of reconstruction. The Jedi Order survives, damaged, shaken, forced to confront how a Sith Lord operated under the their noses for decades. The council begins reforms that should have come years earlier. Flexibility over rigidity, connection over detachment, trust over control. The council convenes with Anakin at its center one final time. Save the Republic you have, young Skywalker. Grateful we are. Your actions were decisive. The council acknowledges your role in exposing and defeating the Sith. I'm leaving the order, Anakin. Not because I'm angry. I'm leaving because the order needs to change. And it can't change while I'm standing in the middle of it. Bending rules whenever I decide I know better. Wise these words are. The order needs people who believe in the system enough to fix it from within.

[00:39:27]That's you, master. It was never me.

[00:39:30]Where will you go?

[00:39:31]>> Home to my family.

[00:39:33]>> He clasps Obi-Wan's forearm. Master and apprentice. Brothers. Rex waits outside the temple, helmet under his arm.

[00:39:40]>> General, what are our orders?

[00:39:42]>> You don't have a general anymore, Rex.

[00:39:44]You don't have orders. You have a choice.

[00:39:48]>> That might take some getting used to.

[00:39:50]>> Yeah, for both of us.

[00:39:51]>> He walks down the temple steps.

[00:39:53]Coruscant skyline stretches before him, bruised from the political earthquake, but still standing. Behind him, the Jedi temple rises against the sky. Ahead, somewhere in the city, Padme waits. In a medical facility deep beneath the Jedi temple, Krelll wakes alone. His body is wrapped in back to patches. Two of his arms are immobilized. Medical droids monitor his vitals with quiet efficiency. A temple guard stands outside the door. The four suppression cuffs on Krelll's wrists hum with a low charge. He studies the cuffs for a long moment. Then the room, then the single window that looks out onto Coruson sunset.

[00:40:26]>> Two Sith Lords, both dead. The Jedi think they've won.

[00:40:31]>> His remaining functional hand flexes.

[00:40:34]The four suppression cuffs dampen his connection, but they don't sever it entirely. He can still feel the dark side. The Sith didn't survive a thousand years through strength alone. They survived through patience, through hiding, through letting the galaxy believe they were gone.

[00:40:50]>> He leans back against the medical bed and closes his eyes. The smile stays.

[00:40:55]>> One taught me power. The other taught me strength. And both of them are gone now, which means the title is vacant.

[00:41:04]>> The medical droids continue their work.

[00:41:06]The temple guard stands motionless outside. Coruscant sun dips below the skyline and in the silence of a cell no one is watching closely enough, Pong Cra begins to plan.

[00:41:17]That's our theory. Star Wars is a galaxy filled with exciting stories and possibility, and we love exploring them.

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