Chapter One
Dooku's POV
Was I hearing my old master correctly? As he sat there, carefully disguised as nothing more then a compassionate politician who wanted to end the war, he was ordering his apprentice's death, probably very much as he had ordered the death of my former apprentice.
"Kill him now," As Darth Sidious said it for the second time, I was certain.
I looked to Anakin, my eyes begging for mercy. Surely my hands were enough. No Jedi would kill an unarmed prisoner.
"I shouldn't," Anakin said.
"Do it!" Palpatine ordered in a voice that low and deadly.
Suddenly, my loyalties again reversed.
"Anakin, wait, I am not going to fight you. I have no hands. There is no more trouble I can cause you. I have information, information I'd be willing to tell the Jedi."
"Why should I believe that? You're a liar Count, you can't be trusted," Anakin said. The disgusted look he was giving me was deserved, and I did not hold this against him.
"But I deserve a fair trial," I protested. I started using the Force to stir Obi-Wan*. He would defend me; he was a Jedi who did things by the book.
I heard him moan and glanced over before returning my attention to Anakin. "Anakin, I swear, I will be no trouble," I said, looking up at him. I never expected to be pleading with this man for my life, but then, I didn't foresee a lot of what had happened in my life.
"Anakin, kill him!" Palpatine ordered again.
"Anakin, you've taken him prisoner, and he looks like he can do no more damage," Obi-Wan said, finally waking up.
With one more look at me, Anakin finally turned away, tucking my lightsaber in his belt for safekeeping. He went over to Obi-Wan and helped the Jedi to his feet.
Obi-Wan was using the Force, tugging at my mind*, and Darth Sidious was scanning me over, attempting to find a weakness*.
I had to act now.
To Obi-Wan, I released all my thoughts, my memories, and my knowledge*. It must have hurt to have such a flood of emotions, for he grabbed his head and grunted in pain.
Then Sidious was on me. He had used the Force to release the binders that held him and now lightning shot at me. I felt it shock my body for several seconds before it suddenly disappeared. I looked, and there was Obi-Wan, standing over me, using his lightsaber to guard me. His injuries were ignored as he faithfully stayed between Darth Sidious and me.
"Anakin, Palpatine is a Sith Lord!" Obi-Wan shouted. By now, of course, I was sure Obi-Wan had transmitted the same idea to at least Yoda, if not the entire council*. Darth Sidious's disguise was utterly ruined.
Again, Anakin hesitated, and was caught between Obi-Wan, his old mentor, and the Chancellor, who was his friend.
And I waited, in agony on the floor, for the man to make his decision.
Obi-Wan's POV
Why was Anakin hesitating? Here was his destiny, staring him in the face and yet he hesitated.
I tried to probe my former apprentice's mind and found it strangely guarded*. I knew I couldn't hold my own against Palp – Darth Sidious alone for much longer. Darth Maul had been an apprentice, but here was a man capable of far more power. More than Dooku even, and that man had been a challenge enough.
I couldn't spare a glance back at Dooku, but I scanned him mentally*. The only good thing about lightsaber wounds was that the bleeding was usually minimal, since the heat from the blade was enough to cauterize the wound. Dooku seemed to be holding up all right, but he needed medical attention soon. I had half a mind to send him to the medical station on this ship, but I didn't want the three of us, Anakin included, to be separated.
"Anakin, hurry!" I called, the strain evidence in my voice.
Still Anakin hesitated, glancing back and forth between his old mentor and a close friend. I had always known, somehow, that Anakin's friendship with the Chancellor would eventually lead to trouble, but this was never in my wildest dreams.
"Anakin, he just betrayed one of his friends, do you really think it is safe to trust him?" Dooku called to Anakin.
Finally, Anakin leapt forward to attack Darth Sidious, who was forced to break off the lightning in order to back away from Anakin's weak attack. Anakin seemed unwilling to fight him with the full extent of his skills, and I felt a flare of frustration. The Sith was unarmed, I finally realized, but before Anakin and I could use this to our advantage, Dooku's lightsaber was flying towards Darth Sidious's outstretched hand. Anakin growled in frustration, but Sidious seemed to think twice about actually fighting against Anakin.
He must be aware that Anakin is the chosen one, and won't take any risks. I thought as the Sith flipped over Anakin and before I could charge him, he was tearing up the stairs. He left the room, and Anakin and I exchanged a look.
I buried my frustration with Anakin away; it wouldn't help anything if I started criticizing him. Every time I had in the past, he had gone to the Chancellor. I had been playing right into the Sith's hands when I had driven Anakin to him time after time. I was amazed Anakin had made it out of Darth Sidious's presence alive so many times. I was fortunate I hadn't lost my former apprentice on any of those occasions.
"Now what?" Anakin asked.
"We need to get out of here. If he gets to Grievous on the bridge then they will try to jump to hyperspace and drag us with them," Dooku said.
"We have some ships in the hanger," I told him.
"He's riding with you," Anakin told me.
I guess old rivalries are hard to end.
Anakin's POV
We hurried out and headed towards the hanger. Dooku warned us of ray shields and we had to stick close to the edges of the halls to avoid them. We managed to get back to the hanger, but the droids had been sent after us, and we had to walk backwards to deflect the bolts of light that flew towards us.
It was chaos, which matched the emotions swirling around my head.
I could not believe Palpatine was a Sith Lord. Why hadn't I sensed it? Why would he order Dooku's death? How could I have been so blind?
Obi-Wan shouted for Dooku to get in the ship. Fortunately the seats are big enough to fit two if the occupants really squeeze together. As the Count jumps up to the ship, part of me is worried that he might try to take off without Obi-Wan and escape us, but then I remember his hands and doubt he has the strength to travel far by only using the Force.
The man does nothing to indicate he is going to resist us as he climbs in and waits. The droids keep up a steady barrage and I back slowly to my ship, deflecting bolt after bolt. Suddenly, I realized something is missing.
R2! I had forgotten R2!
I quickly brought up my comlink and called for R2. Unsurprisingly, the little droid was not far away, nearby a pile of destroyed battle droids. I wondered for a moment if R2 had taken care of those himself. I backed away from the fighting for a moment and using the Force I lift R2 up into his compartment on my ship.
"Ready?" Obi-Wan called to me.
"As I'll ever be," I replied.
"Take out the shields on the other side, there's no way we can blast through that wall," Obi-Wan told me before jumping up to his cockpit. I followed suit and used my ships guns to destroy about a dozen droids and then turned the ship to take out the shields. The force field was dropped and we shot out of the ship and into space.
"Cody, we're out, we need you over here," Obi-Wan said into his comlink.
"We're on our way," The commander responded.
We shot through the void of space, still filled with gunfire as the battle raged on, heading for our lines to get out of the min fire fight. Commander Cody joined us and protected our backs as we angled towards Coruscant. I readied to join the fight, but Obi-Wan disagreed
"Anakin, they can handle the battle up here without us, make for the temple," Obi-Wan ordered, "Cody, have your men return to the fighting, they'll need you up there."
"Aye General," Cody replied.
With that, we started going through the atmosphere of Coruscant. I was anxious about reaching the Jedi Temple, and still very confused and hurt.
Alarm bells suddenly went off in my head, but by the time I realized the danger a large blast had hit my ship from behind and I lunged forward, all the controls were going wild as I started to descend faster and faster.
I was going to crash.
A/N: Ooh... first chapter and I'm already leaving you with cliffhangers. Well, tell me how I'm doing. A ton of people put this in their favorites or alerts, but not very many reviews.
* The article on the Force on Wookiepedia says clearly: "Manifestations of the Force, which were mentally-based abilities and tapped through the practitioner's willpower, could take all forms, and included telepathy, psychokinesis, and enhanced physical and metaphysical perception." When Dooku transmits that information to Obi-Wan, it's a form of telepathy that I would guess he is capable of, considering his strong abilities. When Obi-Wan probes Dooku and Anakin, that's also a form of telepathy. For the sake of my story, true telepathy (talking back and forth mentally) is not easily done, but one can transmit ideas or images to others.