Chapter 1:
The republic was at their tail. What had once been a proud bird, a menace in the galaxy, had now been turned into a shipwreck. Malevolence ignited in flames tried to flee from the ever approaching republic cruisers. Bombarded by fire the ship was heavily pounded. Grievous had to hold onto to his commanding podium to restrain his body from rocking. Although his magnetic feet would allow him to keep his balance, the constant shaking would be too much to bear. The cyborg growled. How could he have let that Skywalker brat destroy his ion cannon!? what's worse was the fact that it had exploded inwardly causing the Malevolence current state. Both primary weapons were gone, the shield was terminated alongside the stabilizers, the forward engines were shutting down and the hyper drive disabled. It was almost too convenient.
"We are trapped!" The general spat out "This was supposed to be a simple mission to exterminate some defenseless clones" Grievous balled his fists and smashed it into the podium wall "Now I find my flagship on the brink of destruction!" Narrowing his eyes in rage he understood what needed to be done. The surrounding B1 battle droids anxiously stood by, fearing the Generals wrath.
Grievous advanced to the podium his metal talons echoing on impact of each pace. When he reached the first step of his commanding platform a sudden cutting rumble followed by a massive quake forced the cyborg to grab onto the ledge to retain a respectful posture while four B1 battle droids followed by two super battle droids tumbled on the impact. The shaking now rapidly increased. "They must be focusing all fire on the command bridge" Grievous noted "Ha! those fools". He knew that even without the shield the Malevolence was as deadly as it was massive. It would take a significant amount of firepower to just eliminate the command bridge. However it would not last forever.
Certain of his movements Grievous typed on the small device center on the podium. After a few seconds a vivid blue hologram appeared. It revealed a old man with a pointing white beard and slicked back hair. The baggy facial features revealed dark menacing eyes filled with annoyance. Clothed in a sealed robe the elderly man crossed his arms revealing the vein clad hands. Raising a thick eyebrow Count Dooku asked with a authoritative tone "What is your current status General?"
Moving his clawed like hand in a respectful gesture and tilting his head the cyborg responded
"My lord as you definitely know we have been outflanked by several Republic Cruisers" he hated to admit it but they were in a dire situation "and we need support from nearby CIS Frigates"
Dooku sighed "indeed" then he calmly added "Reinforcements has been sent to cover up for your failure..." the old man trailed, a hint of rage could be spotted in the dark eyes "However they are being delayed by a republic fleet lead by Jedi master Luminara Unduli, how bad fairs your letdown?"
Mentally Grievous cursed the old man wishing he could smash that arrogant old fool. Restricting himself he shot back:
"Malevolence has lost its shields and it has..." The bridge interrupted his sentence in a harsh shudder which strained Grievous into crouching and letting out a small cough. Retaining his balance Grievous continued with narrowed eyes and a balled fists " ...Sustained extensive damage" The general didn't feel that the time was right to enrage the count more by telling him about the destruction of the ion cannon. Dooku gave Grievous a grave look "General, I have arranged a trap to give you an advantage over the Jedi". Irritated over the Counts lake of faith Grievous firmly answered "I assure you that is unnecessary". He needed no tricks to outplay the Jedi, only more ships. His strategic mind outdid any of those corrupt insolent fools.
Furiously narrowing his eyes Count Dooku spat out "Do not compound your failure this day by allowing our prize warship to fall.
"My lord, they will never capture me or this ship" Grievous tried to guarantee. But the Sith would have none of it. "Heading towards you is a very important galactic senator. With her as your hostage, they will call off their attack" The elderly man's sharp eyes conveyed that there would be no arguing.
The cyborg bowed "As you wish, my lord". As the transmission ended Grievous let out a huge growl. This wasn't how he used to deal with dire situations on Kalee. Taking hostages was a cowardly act. "But in war one has to be flexible" he argued to himself.
############################################################################
Sitting out of harm's reach in a sleek silver vessel Senator Padmé Amidala travelled through hyperspace. Her craven assistant C-3PO had accompanied her on a diplomatic mission assigned by the chancellor himself. Not knowing the coordinates provided would lead her straight into a trap.
"My lady are you sure the information from chancellor Palpatine is reliable?" the droid anxiously asked. Padmé curved a small smile on her lips, "he always worries about everything my golden friend" She still mused over the thought that her husband's outgoing personality couldn't be traced at all in his creation. Not that she would have prefered C-3PO in any other way, his fear was what defined his personality. She continued working with the control panel while answering:
"Yes, it was secretly given to him by the supreme executive of the banking clan himself" she paused and lifted her hazel brown eyes from the controls "If they lead the separatist alliance it will go along way to shorten this war". After a few moments the navigation controls suddenly started blinking. " We are approaching the system now" Padmé noted. But when the ship exited the ocean of lightspeed she was met with a horrifying view. Laser shots were whirling from all directions and the nose of a monstersaurus war ship lit in flames traveled towards them. C-3PO let out a distressed screech "My goodness!". Padmé was momentarily stunned with her eyes wide open and her mouth gaping. In denial the senator tried to grasp the situation "This isn't right…. that's a droid war ship" quickly steering them to the side she fearfully added " We are in the middle of a battle!".
############################################################################
It only took thirty minutes before the high pitched voice of a B1 Droid echoed " Sir, we're scanning a small ship off our bow" Grievous who was staring at the black space using the pain and agony of his past to fuel his rage was bolted back to reality. Walking closer to the control panel the General could spot the Naboo shaped ship. He lightly sneered "Good. Our hostage has arrived". This was almost too easy, the fool had walked right into the trap "Activate the tractor beam!" he commanded.
After tapping some buttons a pilot droid squeaked: "Sir the vessel will enter hangar A113".
"Have all nearby droid units surround that ship" Grievous viciously ordered " I will not allow our precious guest to slip through my grasp". After he was done speaking the echo of "roger, roger" filled the room. Suddenly Grievous noticed something, the calmness. The intensive rocks and movements had vanquished. "Sir the Republic cruisers have halted their attack" the a pilot droid informed. Beneath his mask the cyborg grinned. "Jedi are so predictable". Now it was time to act, the hyper drive needed to be fixed so the Malevolence could reach the rendezvous point. "Get a repair team up here!" Grievous growled, while slowly pacing towards the elevator he rasped: "continue working on the hyper drive, I'm going down to the main hangar".
############################################################################
Padmé was terrified of what she had got herself into "Why do I always get myself entangled in Anakin's adventures" she thought out loud. Her ship was being pulled into a hanger and the senators mind was roaming for ideas to get out of her mess. What troubled her the most was what this meant, the chancellor had been given false coordinates by the IBC meaning they had to be working with the separatists and with that financial edge the CIS would be even harder to defeat, if only a peace treaty could be negotiated.
Hangar A113 looked like a fire hazard. There was metal chunks spread out on the broken ground as well as wholes lit in flames. The hangar was filled with the thunder of parts gravitating from the ceiling onto the ground. "It does not look safe out there my lady" the golden droid stuttered while pointing at the window. More to herself the ex-queen pondered: "I see now this whole thing was a trap, and I am afraid I walked right into it". Padmé closed her eyes in concentration. Maybe if she could overload the power system and sneak out, then she could blow up any welcome party and use it as a distraction to escape. Quick with her fingertips she started working with the power systems on the various control panels. However she halted her movements when she saw the ring of battle droids forming up around the ship."Blast!" the option of sneaking out had now been eliminated. Would she really sacrifice her life to blow up some droids? defeated she rested her body against the pilot chair and pressed both her slim palms onto her face while she let out a small groan.
It didn't take long before closing footsteps could be heard. Two intimidatingly tall shining grey droids with crimson red eyes entered the room. They both held a metallic staff and were dressed in white dirty capes. The first one advanced on C-3PO who shrieked: "Oh dear!" before he was brutally pounded to wall and shut down. With it's metallic hand reaching for the senators wrist the second droid approached Padmé. She could now spot all the battle hardened wounds and scratches on the seemingly killer machine. Before she got grabbed the Ex-Queen defiantly stood up spitting out: "I can walk myself" The droid stopped on the spot and took a step to the side, clearing a path to the exit where the other one stood with its weapon resting firmly in its hands. Hesitantly Padmé slowly walked towards the exist with the second droid stalking behind her.
When she walked out to the hanger she was met with 20 battle droids standing in a open triangular formation with four super battle droids at the two corners. She then noticed the most dreadful thing one could possibly encounter. Between two of the same type of droids who had escorted her stood the infamous murderer General Grievous fixed, the surrounding flames reflected in his beastly eyes and its shadow dancing across his skull like mask. He weared a beautiful crimson red cape which contrasted with his diabolical body and with his arms behind his back he lightly chuckled "Welcome to the Malevolence my dear"