Hello! So... I really like to push boundaries when it comes to a lot of my story ideas and this is one I think is really interesting to explore. Assassins Creed is a good video game series but to work in Star Wars I need to change a lot of things so I took the general idea of an assassin like brotherhood and adapted it to what fits.

I really hope this works or is at least interesting, so please review! It sounds good in my head but who knows!

Enjoy!

-DFD

Chapter 1

The senator smiled as he shook hands with several other dignitaries before the security team he had hired to ensure his safety ushered him inside. Too bad they would do him no good. Atop one of the buildings surrounding the plaza, a man stood with his cloak drawn tightly around his body to keep warm. The hood of his undercoat hid his face well and made it impossible for anyone to notice the mask he wore unless they were within a few feet of him. The eyes of the mask gave off a slight red glow as it displayed several readings before his eyes. Even safely behind the walls of the building the man on the roof could still see the senator outlined in yellow because the mask was honed in on his target's readings.

Glancing down at the comlink in his hand he listened as the guards in the area gave reports every few minutes. Behind him he heard a groan from the guard he knocked out to get the link. Turning to him, he reached under his cloak and pulled out a small blaster, pointing it at his head he fired one shot and silenced him. Removing his cloak he tossed it on top of the body.

Under the cloak he wore a black double-breasted trench coat that reached down to his knees with synthetic leather shoulder pads and a pair of lose fitting black pants with knee high boots. Across his chest he had a single black bandolier that held a black rectangular beskar shoulder guard with a silver falcon with out stretched wings engraved on it in place. Around his waist he had a simple utility belt with a holster for a small blaster at the back that could be reached with his left hand and a lightsaber hung from his right hip. Gloves covered his hands and had beskar plates scaled along the back of his hand that connected to the bracers on his forearms. Most people could easily mistake him for a smuggler or a cheap bounty hunter but he was so much more than that. He is a Shadow Guard. An Obsidian. A Harbinger of Death.

He watched as his target entered the main chamber where the vote was to take place. Without a second glance he jumped from the roof of the building. The ground approached him quickly and he landed hard but dispersed the energy by rolling then quickly getting to his feet and walking away fast, ignoring the startled people around him and disappeared into the crowd. His gaze flickered around the area and kept a close watch on where the guards were. He had been preparing for this for weeks. By now he knew exactly what the guards rotations were and where they were all stationed and where they were assigned to watch. If he timed it right, after his target was dead, he could easily slip out without attracting the attention of the guards for five minutes, then be out of the immediate area in ten.

As he approached the building the senator was in, he watched the readings in his mask to make sure his target was still in the main chamber before he made his way over to an area he had scouted out the first week he arrived. Raising his fist to the air he launched an assentation cable and quickly pulled himself to the eighth level. Waving his hand in front of the window he heard the slight click of the window unlocking before using the force to pull it open and climbing through.

Ducking down behind an end table in the hall, he takes a moment to analyze his surroundings. Getting in is always the easy part, finishing the job and getting out is the hard part. Rarely is he ever afforded the luxury of scoping out the place he selected to perform his assassination. Most times once he got in he had to improvise but that is why he spends weeks studying the surrounding area and the movement of his target and entourage. Having that knowledge, it makes it easier to isolate the target and make an escape.

Peeking around the table his sensors pick up the readings of two guards making their way down the hall to the room he was in. Moving quickly but silently he hides behind the door and waits until they are close enough. When they are within reach he opens the door and aims his fist and the closest guard, activating the short lightsaber attached to the back of his bracer. The black blade penetrates the guard's skull before he can react. Bringing his knee up high, the man jabs it roughly into the second guard's chest before pulling the lightsaber out of the first's head and with a spinning motion, slashes it across the second guard's chest.

Deactivating the lightsaber, he grabs the guards by the back of their uniforms and drags them back into the room and leans them against one of the desks inside. Closing the door behind him, he looks around before making his way down the hall following the trail of his target. As he reaches the center of the building he finds a grand staircase with several guards patrolling the area. He easily could kill them all and make the path to the target clear, but there is always the chance that someone will come across the mess it would cause, which would alert the senator to his presence. He couldn't approach his target this way. He needed a new plan.

As one of the guards rounded the corner and started the climb up the stairs, he took his chance and snuck quickly into one of the rooms along that hall. At the back of the room was a window. Running to it he opens it and climbs out onto the ledge and starts to scale up the side of the building. He knew there was a guard on a rooftop nearby so when he came to a good vantage point he leaned out away from the wall and reached for the blaster on his belt and aimed it at the guard who had his back to him at the moment. Waiting for him to start walking again, he fired one shot at him and watched as he disappeared from sight and the red color he appeared on his sensors turns black. Returning the blaster to his holster he continues his climb until he comes to a hall that was clear of guards.

Using the force he opens the window and climbs in. His target is close. Outside of the room there are several civilians wandering the halls, most likely spectating the debate going on. Lowering his hood he removes his mask and unbuttons the top two buttons on his coat and hides the mask inside. Glancing in the mirror he fixes his medium length blond hair, parting it on the left side. When he is certain he looks at least decent he leaves the room and blends into the crowd, following them to the large balcony that overlooks the inner sanctum of the building where the politicians were debating.

Leaning against the railing but hidden by the shadows of one of the opulent columns stretching to the ceiling, he watched the debate with little interest. This debate was just another smaller version of the debate currently being argued on Coruscant. The Military Creation Act. As counter intuitive as it may seem, he was against the act. He didn't like war and violence and killing, but he did see it as something that needed to be done when people suffer because of neglect from those who were suppose to protect them. Senator Orn Free Taa is one of the gluttonous corrupt senators guilty of this. Standing before the dignified senators in the room, he drowns on about how an army will ensure peace in the galaxy and how it will protect them from the threat of attack. Taa is not the target just for his support of the Military Creation Act but also because of his… questionable relationship with Jabba the Hutt, his involvement in the slave trade, and his obvious disregard of his people's beliefs.

His eyes scanned the crowd and the space he had to try to find a good vantage point to end the debate. Among the dignitaries present were the well-spoken senator of Alderaan, Bail Organa; Horox Ryyder of Gravlex Med; and several others he could care less about. As he tried to formulate a plan quickly, his eyes fell on one senator in particular. Padme Amidala of Naboo. He was frozen to the spot. He hasn't seen her since he was nine- he's watched her debate on the holonews, but this is the first time he's seen her in person since his childhood. A small smile graces his face. She is still beautiful- perhaps more beautiful even. He watches as she listens intently to Taa's speech but he can tell she isn't convinced. She has always been single-minded when it came to her political beliefs and it seems even after all these years that hasn't changed. She still stands strong against violence and still believes in the power of democracy.

The smile on his face drops as he realizes how much he has changed. No longer is he the little slave boy she met on Tatooine. He isn't even a Jedi anymore. He could not stand by the Jedi Order and what they believed was right. He had vastly different views on right and wrong and he did not agree with the council a lot of the time. There were many times where he wanted to act- to take action and protect people in trouble but couldn't because the Jedi were keepers of the peace and had to remain neutral in most situations. So when the peacekeeping became too much for him, he left. He found a new order to follow- one that allowed him to act and saw him as their equal rather than the problem child the Jedi often treated him as. He found his place and it wasn't one that Padme would likely appreciate. No, he wasn't the same little boy she met. He wasn't Ani anymore. His hands are stained in blood. He is a killer. A murderer. An assassin.

Shaking his head he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Taa was just finishing his speech and another senator stood from his seat to debate the other side of the argument. Time was running out. He had to make his move quickly before Taa left the building. Down where the senators were speaking, a lone guard was walking around the parameter of the room. Guards were seldom allowed in the inner sanctum because there had been instances in the past where guards were bribed to threaten or kill a representative because of their views. To prevent that, they were almost never permitted in the room while a debate happened. His eyes widened as he noticed he was placing a bomb near the back of the room. As the guard left, he was left with the feeling that time had run out.

And it had. The bomb went off seconds later and panic swept through the building. Guards ran in search of the bomber and people tried to get out of the now burning building. Down where the senators had been debating, he searched for Padme to make sure she was all right. She wasn't. He saw she had been thrown several feet by the explosion and was now lying unconscious on the ground. The few people down there were too busy to help her. Leaping over the railing he ran to her as fast as he could. He should have used this opportunity to kill his target. He should have been looking for Taa. But he didn't. He wasn't even thinking. Padme was hurt and that was all he could focus on. Placing his hand over her head, he checked on her condition. Besides a couple burns, and a hit to the head, she was all right. Picking her up in his arms, he walked with her to the nearest exit.

The panic made his escape easy. Guards that ran past were so focused on catching the bomber; they just assumed he was helping get someone out. By the time he made it to the street, the streets were being barricaded as police were pulling up to the scene. Using the crowd as his shield, he followed it until he could break off into an alley. Laying her down on the ground, he watches her for several moments. Even after all this time he can't deny that he still loves her. True, when he was a child it was a different kind of love- a more innocent love- but even then he couldn't deny the strong pull he felt towards her. Now as a man grown, and being near her again, that pull is still there.

Padme groans as she stirs slightly. Her eyes slowly blink open and she finds herself staring up into deep blue eyes. As he slowly comes into focus she opens her mouth to speak but he stops her, "Not so fast." He says, "You need to take it easy."

"What do you want?" She demands.

"It's alright." He says, "I'm not your enemy. I imagine whoever did this is against the opposition to the Military Creation Act." He says.

Padme furrows her brow as she takes in the man kneeling before her. She tries to sit up and he wraps an arm around her to gently help her. She looks closely at his face- the deep blue eyes, his strong jaw and the small cleft in his chin. He looks so familiar but she can't place him, "Who are you?" She asks.

He looks behind him as he hears footsteps approaching. Looking back down at her he pauses a moment before pulling his hood over his head and getting to his feet quickly before launching an assentation cable from his wrist and moving up the side of the alley just as Captain Typho reaches her. Padme watches him disappear over the side of the building and is at a loss at what just happened. Shaking her head she turns back to her security captain and assures him she is all right. And when he asks how she got out, she explains that a good samaritan helped her.

As her day went from a quick debate over legislature to one of pandemonium, she finds that the face of that man haunts her. She knows him from somewhere. But she is having trouble placing him. And with doctors trying to treat her for the small injuries she sustained and the press demanding responses, she doesn't have time to think about it until she is on board her ship that night preparing to go home before returning to Coruscant for the final vote.

Lying in her bed, her mind finally concentrates on figuring out where she has seen that man before. She thinks back to the people she knew in the Legislative Youth Program, to the senators and other dignitaries she has met throughout her career. In the end, she still can't place him. Closing her eyes, she decides that maybe it was just a trick of the light. She had almost been blown up; it was just her mind playing tricks on her. Just when sleep was about to embrace her, her eyes shoot open. "Anakin." She says the name once, testing it on her lips. The man who helped her couldn't have been Anakin… and yet, that is the only person she could think of who has all the characteristics the man had. But that was impossible. The last she heard of him, he was training to be a Jedi. And she does not recall the small meeting agreeing to the company of Jedi… so why was he there? Closing her eyes, she decides to sleep on it. Maybe it wasn't him after all.