Chapter 2
Striding into the council room, Darth Sidious and Darth Maul took their place in the middle of the semicircle of six council members. Darth Plagueis sat at the head of the semicircle of councilors. At the head of the Council's right Maul recognized Darth Venamis, and Darth Secrenosh. On Darth Plagueis' left were Darth Ribeous, Darth Milter, and Darth Fraunel.
The room was dimly lit with no windows and only a skylight, to let light into the room. The council members sat in hard, black, elaborately carved seats. Eleven blood red, lit candles were behind the chairs, above every member's head. Two large greenish candles that held some kind of red tint inside them were on both sides of the large door. The walls were made of stone, and the ceiling and floor had been carved from black marble.
The Sith Temple was the tallest building on Coruscant with the council chamber as the peak. Each council member wore long black cloaks and tunics, with all the edges on the cloak and tunics lined with dark red. Their hoods covered their faces so no one could see their expressions. Maul took a glance at their lightsabers that were hooked on the arms of the chairs, within easy reach should an enemy be suicidal enough to attempt an attack, or a lower Sith to be stupid enough to return after a failure. Maul shifted his feet in discomfort as the seconds dragged by until the required time passed that would allow them to kneel without the risk of immediate death.
As soon as the required time passed, Sidious and Maul knelt, bowed their heads, then slowly lifted them and looked toward Darth Plagueis. Exactly thirty seconds went by before they stood up, straight and erect, patiently waiting for their next orders.
"The Trade Federation has blockaded Naboo in an attempt to rebel against our regime. This outrage will not be tolerated," Darth Milter stated in his usual gruff manner Maul noted.
"You and your apprentice are to infiltrate the main control ship and arrest the Viceroy. Should they resist—destroy them. Complete this task quickly and kill anyone who gets in your way," Darth Fraunel continued.
"In the event that you capture the Viceroy alive, you are to bring the Viceroy to us. We shall deal with them severely, making an example of them to all who may attempt to oppose us," Darth Venamis added.
"May the Darkness of the Force serve you well," Darth Plagueis finished.
Darth Sidious and Darth Maul clenched their hands into fists and crossed them in front of their chests, bowed to the Council and left the room with their orders.
...
The Shadow Venger streaked through space to the blockade until it reached the Viceroy's main ship. "This is the Shadow Venger," Darth Sidious began as the image of a Neimoidian appeared before him. "We are here by the will of the Sith Council. You are to allow us to board and take us to the Viceroy immediately," Darth Sidious commanded, menace dripping from each syllable.
The Viceroy's aide, Teruk Gliamb, looked away for a second. "The Sith demand to board at once, Viceroy," he said nervously, attempting to gain even a small measure of calmness.
Nute Gunray stayed quiet for a moment before ordering, "Let them come aboard," before walking to a private part of the bridge.
...
The aide turned back to the viewscreen. "We will open the ship bay door at once," he assured them, his heart racing.
Darth Sidious growled and switched the transmission off with a furious click.
"This will be too easy," Maul said derisively, looking at his Master out of the corner of his eye.
"I expected even a little resistance from them; they did have the nerve to blockade one of our planets. Perhaps they have now realized what a mistake they made. These…animals are too stupid to be anything but pathetic," Darth Sidious said, an undercurrent of disgust in his voice. "They will undoubtedly resist if only because they fear their demise."
"We will crush them easily if they try to resist, Master."
"That we will, my apprentice. That we will." Twin, malicious smiles crept up the faces of the Sith as the ship flew into the landing bay.
A few minutes later Darth Sidious and Darth Maul stepped off the ship's ramp, into the hangar bay. "There is no one in sight, Master." The hanger bay was an average size and held boxes of supplies that lined the walls. Two other ships were docked inside the hanger where small droids were busily working. One of the ships had a silver hose and pump plugged into its fuel canister and was in the process of being pumped with fuel. A small group of workers were off on one side labeling and catering the supplies to the proper storage compartments, not caring that a ship had just landed.
"The fools think they can avoid us." Darth Sidious snorted in distaste. "Well they won't remain hidden for long." Growling deep in his throat, the two Sith walked swiftly toward the exit of the bay.
As they crossed the hangarbay, two human males walked into the bay and approached them. "Master Sith, we are here to escort you to the Viceroy," the older man told them. "Right this way, please."
The four walked through a maze of hallways and soon entered a large, bare room. "Is this the Viceroy's idea of a joke?" Maul demanded when he saw that the Viceroy was not in the room. The Sith glared at the two men who had turned around, and were now looking them in the eye.
"You will take us to the Viceroy—Now!" Darth Sidious shouted, but the two men stood their ground and did not move, not even slightly cowed by the anger in the Sith Master's voice.
/Master, shall I kill these men?/
Before Darth Sidious could answer his apprentice, the tall man spoke. "I don't believe we have introduced ourselves. My name is Qui-Gon Jinn and this is Xanatos DeCrion." He indicated the dark-haired, younger man that stood beside him.
/Now he introduces himself and his companion./ Darth Maul snorted through the training bond. His master remained silent. /Master?/ he queried as he felt the anger radiating from Sidious, directed toward Qui-Gon and Xanatos. /What is it Master?/
/They are Jedi./
/But they are extinct./
/Not any more, it seems, but that can be easily remedied./
Sidious and Maul ignited their lightsabers, as two lightsabers sprang into Qui-Gon and Xanatos' hands from behind a box next to a wall. "Die Jedi!" Sidious cried angrily, and struck the first blow.
Qui-Gon parried and knocked the vicious slash away from his body with his own lightsaber, letting the Force flow through him. Sidious swung his lightsaber at Qui-Gon's feet while Maul attacked the younger Jedi furiously, not letting Xanatos get a chance to attack and kept him on the defensive.
Qui-Gon jumped and flipped over the Sith's back and swung at his back. Sidious swung around, blocking the blow that would have dissected him in two.
The sound of lightsabers clashing echoed in the chamber as the Jedi battled the Sith. Back and forth they fought, never changing opponents as they passed by each other.
...
Obi-Wan watched the battle on the hidden security camera from the bridge as he patiently waited for his master's orders. It was a necessary assignment. From the bridge Obi-Wan could immediately send out droids to specific areas of the ship and close and open doors in response to any movement the Sith would make once it was time to initiate the second phase of the plan. While the Neimodians were quite capable of doing the task themselves, it was decided that it would be wiser to have a Jedi on the bridge.
/Padawan?/
/Yes, Master?/
/Release the destroyer droids./
/Right away, Master. They will be in your area in less than five minutes./
/Good, see you in a little while./ Qui-Gon ended the conversation with his padawan as he blocked a vicious slash to his side.
...
The destroyer droids rolled down the corridor and into the room the Jedi were in, their arrival and subsequent laser fire, distracting Xanatos for a split-second causing Maul's lightsaber to graze his shoulder. That was too close, Xanatos thought to himself as he rolled away from Maul's downward slash and ran up under a beam designated for the next part of the plan and jumped.
Maul glared up at the beam behind which the Jedi he had been fighting had sought refuge. "Do you think you can hide up there?" He sneered in disgust, ignoring the laser fire from the droids. He was about to jump up to the beam but stopped when he spotted a destroyer droid deliberately launch into a roll towards him with two other droids providing cover fire. Maul blocked the fiery assault and jumped over the suicidal droid. Spinning around, he was a second late as the droid unfolded and shields formed around the droid. Growling in rage, Maul Force ran at the older Jedi who had just Force pushed his Master and swung his blade at the Jedi. The tall Jedi avoided him and joined his companion near the top of the ceiling.
Sidious loudly cursed the Jedi and then called for Maul as he blocked the laser fire. /We must leave,/ He said.
Sidious and Maul fought the three destroyer droids vigorously as they made their way to the exit of the room. As soon as the door opened up, they dashed down the corridor and stopped at an intersection. A sound of rolling metal on metal flooring alerted the Sith to more destroyer droids coming in from two other directions, leaving only one corridor as an option.
"Blasted droids!" Maul yelled as he felt a bolt whiz past his ear. "When I get my hands on those renegades-"
"Those two men are too well trained to be renegade Force users. We must leave and inform the Council about the return of the Jedi." Sidious shot back, interrupting Maul. With a burst of speed, they ran past the destroyer droids waiting for them at another intersection and back to their ship. Maul winced as a bolt grazed his leg, and with each blaster bolt that was fired at him his anger grew. "How can the Jedi filth have returned! All their knowledge was destroyed!"
Reaching their ship, they boarded and left to make contact with the Sith Council at a safe distance away.
Qui-Gon and Xanatos lowered themselves back down to the floor with the Force and relaxed. "They are definitely not lax in their training," Xanatos remarked as he held his right hand against the grazed part of his left shoulder. "I didn't think they would run away that easily."
Qui-Gon shook his head. "We caught them off guard enough to back off this one time. Next time they will not run away."
"Yes, and next time can we avoid the use of destroyer droids? They are a nuisance while fighting Sith."
Qui-Gon began to reply when his comlink beeped. "Yes," Qui-Gon said into the comlink's speaking end.
"Master Jedi," Nute Gunray began. "Queen Misika wishes to speak to you."
"We will be right there," Qui-Gon replied and turned off the comlink. "We had best be moving." Xanatos nodded once in agreement and followed Qui-Gon to the command center.