Renust Nju quickly turned in response to this, on the opposite side of the room with the gallery between them was Padmé Naberrie. She was disguised, of course, but he knew it was her, after all she had been one of his students.
He had known she was on Imbroglio, but had not expected to see her so soon. Nju had figured she would be sticking close to Senator Nalanda. Yet now she would have to pay for her curiosity, for she could not be allowed to live knowing what she now did. He slowly walked towards her.
"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, stepping very close so as to intimidate her.
"Long enough to know that you are a traitor," Padmé spat, stepping back to a defensive position.
"No more a traitor than Dooku, young Jedi," Nju taunted.
"At least he left the Order first," she snapped. "Why have you done this? Why have you sold out to the Sith? I trusted you!"
"You're trying to stall me, aren't you?" Nju asked, ignoring her questions. He parted his cloak to reveal the twin lightsabers on his belt. "You know you can't win against me, and I can kill you as I know how you fight."
"Not entirely," Padmé challenged. She had begun her training with him, remembering well the patient, methodical way he had shown them the various moves and positions. But since training with both Shakya Devi and Kuan Yin Nevu she had developed considerably since she had been in his class.
"I still intend to kill you all the same," he told her as if the matter was of no consequence. "Of course," he added dryly, "you can promise me to give you a reason not to. That'll you'll side with me—"
"Never," Padmé said, her voice was quiet but her tone firm. "I'll never turn to the dark side, and I will never betray the ones who taught me."
Renust Nju smiled sadly, he summoned his lightsabers to his hands, the blue blades crackling as they ignited.
"You were a fine student, Padmé," he said in the same sad, disappointed tone, "I only wish you could be more practical."
"Like you?" Padmé challenged, igniting her own weapon and bringing it before her.
He came upon her with such speed that she staggered back to deflect his blow, yet just gave Nju more room to attack. She ducked out of his way, swerving to avoid the flashing fury of his attack.
I need to concentrate, she told him frantically, sooner or later someone is going to see us up here, I just need to hold out until then.
After all, the Jedi needed to know that they had a Sith in their midst, even if it took her to the end of her strength.
Flanked by his Kameel bodyguards, Kanesh Dijoro inspected each of the Loyalist suites to make sure they were secure. He got merely a nod from the guards outside, no one had discovered yet that the politicians within were actual prisoners and those doors were as solid as were made.
Yet he was surprised to see Count Dooku leaving his suite, surely it was too early to implement the plan?
"Do you have any reason to be about so late, my lord Count?" Kanesh asked, his pointed teeth visible through his blue lips.
"The plans have changed," Dooku told him, leaving the corridor and heading into the bowels of the city, "we need to act now and not wait another moment."
"What brings this sudden change?" Kanesh felt himself sweating.
"The Jedi have responded far more swiftly than we have anticipated," Dooku replied, then looked around distractedly. "In fact, two are here right now."
"Jedi? Here?" Kanesh started and glanced around as if expecting them to jump out at any moment.
"I'll take care of it," Dooku said and Kanesh was immediately reassured. "But tell everyone else that the plan has moved up a few hours, we need to get into position."
"Yes, yes," Kanesh said, fluttering away in the most distracted way.
Dooku walked in the opposite direction, the fact that the Jedi arrived early was no great embarrassment. Once Mace Windu and the others arrived all they would have to do was close the net and watch everything be destroyed.
When the hammering on her door grew louder, Senator Nalanda threw on a robe and ran to answer it. Yet the door was bolted from the outside and wouldn't budge.
"It's locked!" she shouted, banging on the door herself.
"Senator Organa's is locked as well," said someone from the other side. "Step away from the door m'lady, we're going to try and blow it down."
Nalanda backed away from the door and sank into a chair below the window. A scuffle at the door that led into the next suite made her start.
"Rhadé, get away from the door!" There was a pause then the sound of a blaster being fired. A few moments later Bail Organa emerged from his suite.
"What's going on?" Nalanda ran to him, all her composure gone. "You're security says that we're locked in. Is Padmé out there?"
"No, she said she had to check on something," Bail said, he tried his comlink but couldn't get a signal. "Jammed? But…why?"
"Where do you think we should land, Master?" Anakin asked.
"Well, the spaceport might seem like a safe option," Obi-Wan replied dryly.
"In case you haven't noticed, Master," Anakin said caustically as the ship descended, "every ship is abandoning the city like mynocks leaving a destroyed freighter. The spaceport's off-limits."
"They're not abandoning…" Obi-Wan's voice trailed off. "This entire planet is a trap! And not just for the Loyalists but for all of the fools who try to come in and save them." He looked around to see if there was any way they could get into the city. Everyone's trying to get out, he thought with an ironic smile, we're the only idiots trying to get in. "Up there." He nodded to a point right on top of the city where there were some windows they could get through. "Though what we're going to do once we're in there is beyond me."
"Isn't that what it's always like, Master?" Anakin asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Obi-Wan only smiled again as he shut down the complaining com-unit which was telling them it was their final chance to transmit their code or they would be destroyed.
Getting down was easy, getting in was something else altogether as Anakin pointed out they not only had to get in but have a way of getting out. Finally they managed to break a skylight that lead to some of the power conduits, and there was an access ladder inside followed by a locked door that they quickly cut to ribbons.
Yet when Anakin was going to sprint ahead, Obi-Wan held him back. They had to be cautious here, Count Dooku and who knew who else could still be near by.
"Remember Anakin, our priority is freeing the Loyalists," Obi-Wan murmured. "No excuses this time."
"Yes Master," Anakin assented, not willing to dispute at the moment.
But several moments later they had something else to worry about, something more immediate.
"Well, well, well." Count Dooku strolled casually up to them with no more disapproval than a Security Officer catching someone for petty crime. "It appears we have a jailbreak Jedi and his rescuer."
"You're not going to get away with this, Dooku," Anakin snarled.
"My, my, aren't we a little touchy?" Dooku looked at Obi-Wan as if Anakin's outburst was his fault. "You ought to control your Padawan, his short temper might get him into trouble one of these days. Fortunately, all I am here to do is keep you from getting any closer to the Loyalists."
"I don't think so!" Anakin ignited his lightsaber and charged towards Dooku.
"No! Anakin!" Obi-Wan tried to stop him, he knew Dooku's act was a trap from the very beginning.
Anakin stopped suddenly as if he had run into a solid wall, then was thrown back against side of the room and knocked out.
"Unfortunate, but necessary," Dooku said, then walked towards Obi-Wan, his hand going beneath his cloak. "I'll make this as quick and painless as possible."
"You're mistaken," Obi-Wan said, igniting his lightsaber and taking a defensive stance.
"How so?" Dooku looked intrigued by this
"You are the one who isn't going any further," Obi-Wan told him. "This all ends here."
"I see." Dooku regarded this with mild bemusement. "But I am sorry to tell you that you are the one who is mistaken." He ignited his lightsaber, the curved handle emitting the menacing red blade. It was a colour that Obi-Wan associated with the Sith, with the slayer of Shakya Devi, and of Qui-Gon. There was no mistaking whose side Dooku was on now.
Dooku poised to strike and Obi-Wan moved to intercept. Yet the strike to his left shoulder never came, Dooku feinted and attacked Obi-Wan at the below right. Obi-Wan just managed to evade this attack before Dooku sent his next one coming through, one handed again.
Jocasta Nu's words came back to him: with a lightsaber he had no match. Obi-Wan wondered if that number would include himself.
From the outset Padmé knew she had no chance of besting Renust Nju. He was well renowned for his mastery of Jar'Kai, a deadly form of lightsaber combat which required extraordinary control and skill as the practitioner wielded not one but two lightsabers. Jar'Kai was normally noted for its rapid, flourishing style but Nju had evolved into a double-handed form of Djem-So.
Consequently, it was all Padmé could do to hold her own against him, what with his constantly varying single and double attacks and impenetrable centre of gravity.
Padmé twirled her green blade in a circle so it aligned vertically in front of her. Then, when Nju went to attack her below, she twisted her grip to follow down and deflect the blow and followed through with a counter-attack that made him retreat several paces. Finally, she aimed a blow at his left side, turning rapidly to give speed and strength to her attack.
Nju crossed his saber blades where Padmé's landed, pushing the weapons close together so the blue and green intermingled.
"Good, but not good enough," he spat, throwing her back with the full weight of his blow. The next moment he was on the offensive again.
Now she knew she was getting nowhere, Nju was completely overwhelming her and it would only be a matter of time before the fight would be over—a finish that she knew could include her.
I need to turn his advantage against himself, Padmé thought as she was thrown back again, he is luring me, I need to lure him.
They were approaching the balcony rail; Padmé could sense it behind her. Focusing on the Force, she jumped up so she was balanced on the rail, slashing her saber and catching Nju on the shoulder. But before he could react she flipped back and landed on the ledge behind, then shut her lightsaber off so she could hide in the darkness.
"Haven't I taught you anything?" Nju taunted, trying to sense where Padmé was, somehow she blocked him. "Running and hiding are not the ways of the Jedi, Padmé."
Padmé bit her lip to hold back an angry retort, she could see him clearly now. She held her breath and pressed her back against the wall.
Nju cleared the balcony and walked along the ledge, his form giving an eerie blue glow as he went.
"Show yourself," Nju thundered "You cannot hide forever. Are you afraid?"
At this Padmé emerged from her hiding place and hurled one of the heavy statues at him. The Jedi Master staggered back as it collided into him, but Padmé was on him the next moment in a frenzied attack. Nju retreated, blocking the rapid blows as best he could but evading most of them.
Finally he was on the edge of the ledge, ready to turn the attack against her but she was ready. She stepped up next to him—like when she had fought Anakin back on Naboo—and brought her lightsaber diagonally across, the blades crackling under the pressure.
"Is this good enough?" she murmured, smiling slightly.
"Not quite," Nju replied, letting himself fall back so he was on the table below.
With a tight smile Padmé summoned the Force and jumped after him.
Nalanda emerged from the bedroom in a tight tan-coloured combat suit, on her belt was a blaster pistol. Whatever was going on, she wanted to be prepared. Bail looked at her with barely veiled interest.
"I thought Naboo was pacifist," Bail teased.
"So is Alderaan," Nalanda shot back with a smile, "but you carry a blaster and have armed guards."
It took a few seconds for Bail to realise she was right. "Everything fine out there?" he called to the guards.
"We can't blow the door," came the muffled response, "we're going to cut through the lock."
"Let's get everyone else," Nalanda suggested, "that way they only have to cut through one door."
He followed her into the next suite.
When Anakin came to, he instantly went to his Master's side to parry one of Dooku's blows that swang dangerously close to Obi-Wan's back.
"Glad you could make it," Obi-Wan said gratefully, but there was no time for anything else.
It was something they had worked on for quite some time involving hours in the practise room until it was almost effortless. Anakin and Obi-Wan, Master and Padawan, fighting in tandem as if each were an extension of the other.
Yet it was not perfect, Obi-Wan knew that much as Anakin tended to lash out on his own every now and again, but that would gradually improved as Anakin's skills with a lightsaber did.
Normally, this would be more than a match for an opponent, but not this time. Dooku was not known to have no equal in lightsaber combat for nothing. His expertise in the old style of lightsaber combat that had been developed over millennia left Anakin and Obi-Wan far behind.
Originally, Form II or Makashi as it was also called, was developed by the Jedi to combat the newly arisen Sith. Yet in the hands of Dooku, a fallen Jedi turned Sith it was a devastating dance of destruction.
He deliberately led them further into the building, through corridors and down stairs to the more decorative parts of the complex. The parts, Obi-Wan surmised, where the summit was taking place. But why was Dooku luring them there? He didn't make any attempts to finish off the fight, rather kept it going indefinitely. Was there a reason for this?
The next moment Obi-Wan found out.
Dooku brought his weapon around in such a twist that it entangled both blue blades. Yet he made no move to follow through with the attack.
"Apologies gentlemen, but this is my cue to exit," the former Jedi said with the grace of a polished actor.
Anakin looked at his Master in confusion, but Obi-Wan was focusing on the dozen or so battledroids that were slowly advancing behind Dooku.
"I would like to stay and finish this properly," Dooku continued, still not moving as the battledroids neared, "but there is other business that needs taking care of. Until we meet again."
As the battledroids opened fire the blades disengaged. Obi-Wan and Anakin were on the defensive and Dooku made his escape.
"Shouldn't we follow him?" Anakin shouted over the blaster fire.
"We need to get to the Loyalists," Obi-Wan replied, he lowered his lightsaber as the last droid fell to the ground. "They should be somewhere near."
They set off further down the corridor, unsure to what they would find.
"You can't win," Nju said as he walked along the curved table, his lightsabers extended down either side of him. "Give in now, there is no escape."
"If giving in means joining you," Padmé replied, pacing opposite him, "then I would rather die."
Nju shook his head with no more emotion than when he had instructed her and was pointing out her feet were all wrong for the fifth kata. "I tried to save you, Padmé," he said sadly, "I truly did but if you won't save yourself I have no choice."
He leapt at her, blue blades spinning in a deadly unity. But Padmé merely swerved out of his way, dropping down in a smooth roll before getting back to her feet. She brought her lightsaber up to clash against his.
The blows went back and forward, the attack switching on Nju's part from the left and the right as they fought along the table towards the large window at the back of the room.
Padmé could feel herself tiring, and a part of her was saying that Nju was right. She couldn't win, she had known that from the start but how could she have thought to outlast him? She might have the ability, but this was nothing compared to the vast experience Nju possessed.
She, like the Loyalists, was beaten before she had started fighting.
But he hadn't beaten her yet, she was still alive; still deflecting his attacks and able to return them with some of her own. And she would continue fighting, because she was a Jedi and she knew no other way.
She rushed him suddenly, blocking his lightsabers with her own blade and knocking off the table with her shoulder. He responded but she fought back, forcing him away from the table.
Nju attacked her, extending his lightsabers either side of him and closing in slow.
But Padmé surprised him. Instead of going for his exposed torso as he expected, she attacked one of his weapons. She sliced off the top of one of the hilts and extinguished the blade.
For a moment Nju stopped, he stared at the defective lightsaber.
"Impressive," he commented with a nod, "most impressive."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises," Padmé replied, circling so her back was to the large window.
"I'm sure I will," he taunted, discarding the broken weapon and using his free hand to throw Padmé against the window.
Her head collided painfully with the glass, she slid slowly to the floor gasping for air. Blindly, she felt for her dropped lightsaber.
"It is a great shame that you know far too much," Nju said sadly, using the Force to throw one of the statues against the window.
The glass exploded, showering over Padmé and cutting her hands and face. The chilling wind outside sent it further into the room, yet none of it touched Renust Nju. The broken shards passed him in a fury, yet not marking him at all.
He walked towards her, his boots crunching on the broken glass. For a moment he stood over Padmé, staring at her with bitter disappointment. Then he grabbed her hair and pulled Padmé to her feet, slapping her face a few times so she stared at him.
"Master Nju…" her voice was fearful and childlike, her eyes wide.
Without a word her shoved her outside.
In the cabin of the red diplomatic cruiser, Mace Windu leaned against the wall his eyes focused on the floor. He could have been setting off for an ordinary mission. A simple dispute between two systems, an election that had gone awry on a Mid-Rim world…anything other than what they were about to do.
On board with him were two hundred Jedi, some of the finest and youngest in the Order. While the official stance was 'rescue mission' he knew, just as some of the others on board did, that this could be a move that would bring the galaxy into war. A thought that was still somewhat alien to him.
"Mace, we're clearing hyperspace," said a soft female voice.
Mace looked up to see his former Padawan and fellow Council member Depa Billaba. If she was having a better time of accepting what was going on she hid it well.
"Any transmissions?" he asked her. Renust Nju had gone ahead to see what the situation was, they hadn't heard from him yet.
"Nothing," she told him, "not from Nju or from the planet. No communications."
"That doesn't sound good," he said, walking to the cockpit with her following. "No transmissions?" He asked the pilot. "Nothing?"
"No communications of any kind, Master Windu," the pilot said in a surprised voice. "Transmissions are jammed, or appear to be."
"Get as low as you can to the city," the Jedi Master ordered. "But whatever you do, don't land."
"Yes sir," the pilot replied, but Mace was already on his way out.
"Why do I get the impression that this is going to end up as one of your stories?" Depa asked dryly as they walked to where the other Jedi were waiting.
"Perhaps," Mace shrugged. "But I need to say a few words, at least."
It was with great reluctance that he had left Kenobi and Skywalker. Dooku wanted nothing better than to show the Jedi once and for all whose side he was truly on and why, but Sidious had counselled patience and Dooku knew better than to disobey.
Yet there was nothing to be concerned about, everything was proceeding as it should. Skywalker had foolishly wandered into the trap as Sidious had said he would and the Jedi were sure to follow them here.
By the time they did arrive Dooku planned to be far enough away to direct the entire procedure. The next part was to completely surround the planet so there was no escape. Or appeared to be.
"Your shuttle is still waiting." Kanesh came into step beside him. "I still must say that I don't agree with this operation."
"Now, now," Dooku chastened, "sacrifices must be made if we are to prevail."
"That's what you keep telling me," Kanesh replied as they boarded the ship, "it's not working."
Dooku bowed his head to get through the low doorway. The droid pilot retracted the ramp and powered up the engines.
-
On the floor below where Dooku had left them, they found a group of guards and technicians focused around a door. To judge by their frantic efforts they weren't getting anywhere.
"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asked.
"The Loyalists have been locked in," one of the guards said, nodding to the door. "We can't get through, it's magnetically sealed and so are all the walls."
"Where's Padmé?" Anakin blurted out.
Obi-Wan glared sharply at Anakin, there would be a better time for questions like this. He got out his lightsaber.
"Stand back," he said, igniting the blade and sinking it into the lock.
The Loyalists were gathered in Nalanda's apartment, clustered in small groups and talking quietly. By the far window Nalanda sat with Bail Organa, saying nothing and not meeting his gaze.
"What's that?" she asked suddenly.
A small glowing hole had started to appear in the middle of the door, the hole was growing longer until it melted the lock. Several had turned to watch this.
"That's a Jedi lightsaber," murmured Orn Free Taa, "they're cutting through."
Nalanda was about to protest but sure enough she saw a glimmer of the blue blade and the lock came away. They hastened towards the doors as they opened.
The senators whispered to each other as they glanced at their rescuers, but Nalanda merely smiled as she noticed Obi-Wan and Anakin walk forward.
"We've come to get all of you out of here," Obi-Wan said, raising his voice to silence those who were speaking. "There's more Jedi on the way, which may help as they mean to trap us all here."
As the politicians followed Obi-Wan into the corridor, Anakin went to Nalanda.
"Where's Padmé?" he asked her in a low voice so Obi-Wan wouldn't hear.
"I don't know, Anakin," Nalanda told him as they walked out. "She left a few hours ago to see to something, I haven't seen her. Don't worry," she added as she noticed Anakin's face. "She'll be quite all right."
Anakin wasn't convinced.
Padmé collapsed against the cold metal floor outside, the wind scoring her face. But the moment Nju turned away she was on her feet, her lightsaber flying to her hands, the green blade arcing towards his throat.
Nju blocked her blow, pushing her lightsaber back so the two blades intermingled. Padmé strained with the effort, Nju pushed further until both blades were close to her.
"It ends here," Nju breathed. He hurled Padmé back with the Force and caught her lightsaber as she dropped it. She slid back from him, then got to her feet in a Jedi fighting stance but completely unarmed.
A Jedi is never unarmed, she reminded herself.
"Give up now while you can, Padmé," Nju snarled. "Last stands make good stories but it's pretty pathetic if it happens to you. I should know."
Is that clue there? Padmé wondered. Is he hinting of what had happened to him? Of what had made him turn? She dismissed the thought.
"You're going to have to kill me," she said, "but I don't think you can." It was stupid and she knew it, but she was hoping against all hope that not all the Jedi had been driven out of him.
"I intend to." He deactivated his own lightsaber and replaced it on his belt, hers he waved menacingly before he raised it high.
Quickly he brought the green blade down on her, but Padmé rolled aside at the last moment and got to her feet. He attacked her again and she dodged, diving for the metal then rolling up onto one knee.
"Enough!" He exploded, extending his free hand towards Padmé.
Tendrils of blue lightning emerged from his fingertips, Padmé was thrown back with the force of it and silently writhing in pain. Biting her lip to keep from crying out.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Nju stayed the lighting for a moment, watching as the pain overtook her, her lightsaber still in his hand. "That was how I was made to learn when I first discovered the truth."
The lightning came again, this time Padmé tried to deflect it with the Force but that only last for a moment. Padmé let out a scream, she had never known such pain. She could feel it entering her flesh, flooding her veins, burning her from the inside out.
"And now, little Jedi," Nju murmured, holding the green blade over her. "You will die, and by your own blade."
Padmé was too weak to resist, even to move out of his way was too much effort. But she noticed something in the sky that made her smile, gritting her teeth with the effort she raised her right hand to point where it was.
"Look!"
The word was quietly spoken, but it was enough to make Nju turn. A Republic diplomatic ship was approaching the city. He ground his teeth as he realised the inevitable, he couldn't kill her now. There was little enough time to explain to Windu and the others what he had been doing all this time.
Savagely he turned back to Padmé, she knew what he was. But would anyone believe her? A sly smile crossed his lips; it was a fate better than death.
With the barest of movements he sliced of Padmé's right hand at the wrist. She screamed and clutched at the cauterised stump, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Why?" she shrieked at him, still not understanding his treachery. "Why have you done this?"
"I have done what must be done," Nju replied coolly, "you are merely an abstraction."
And with that he left her, running downstairs to await the others.
The shuttle docked with the Federation's flagship and Dooku went immediately to the war room, the Separatist leaders gathered around the holographic display of Caledra. The Jedi's ship was moving in towards the city, it was time to proceed.
"Deploy the fleet below the city," Viceroy Gunray said to his aide. "Send all droids to the designated areas. The Jedi will be outnumbered."
Dooku smiled quietly to himself, intent on seeing the next stage played out.
"Move! Move!" Mace barked, jumping out of the air-born ship after Ki-Adi-Mundi. He raced with the others along the roof of the city, descending an access hatch as the sky began to erupt into laserfire. The city had been deserted when they had first made their approach, but now capital ships were emerging from the misty depths below, surrounding Caledra and cutting off any escape.
Either way, Mace knew as he ran down the narrow access corridor, they were running out of time.
As several Federation landing craft descended onto the roof the numbers of the battledroids multiplied, following the Jedi down the hatch, the blaster bolts bouncing off the walls. Despite their efforts, Jedi were killed by the laserfire yet they had to be left where they lay. The droids continued relentlessly as Mace and the others pressed on.
Obi-Wan and Anakin had the same problem as they were trying to rescue the Loyalists. Battledroids were in every corridor and while the Jedi and the guards could provide some sort of screen for the laser fire, their numbers were dwindling and some had to be left behind.
This is madness, Obi-Wan thought as they came to another dead end, there just has to be a way out of here.
"Where's your ship?" Nalanda shouted to him.
"Not far," Obi-Wan shouted back. "But I'm not sure if we'll all fit on there."
"What about Padmé?" Anakin asked.
"Anakin, we haven't got time!" Obi-Wan barked.
"I can't leave her!" came Anakin's anguished reply.
As much as he felt he needed to explain to Anakin further, this wasn't the place and with all the droids coming in they couldn't go after her now.
Breathing heavily, shaking uncontrollably, Padmé got to her feet leaning heavily against the window frame with her remaining hand. Remaining hand… Her right wrist arm had been severed off just below the elbow, it throbbed and stank of burning flesh and ozone.
She looked away, staggering into the room and almost falling on the floor. She was still shaky from the lightning attack, the room seemed to be swirling around in most bizarre way and she was seeing three of everything.
Padmé closed her eyes, biting her lip and using the pain to bring her back to reality. When she opened them the floor kept bouncing up and down but at least the walls and ceiling remained where they were.
She stood up again, testing the floor and walking towards the table. As Padmé approached it the room span around again and she landed on the hard surface. She screwed her eyes up, ignoring the tears that welled there and fell down her cheeks.
Anakin! that single desperate cry though the Force was all she could muster. But it was a big effort, she had to lie on the table for a few more minutes before she could move again.
Anakin!
He felt her call just as Mace Windu arrived and they reached the lower levels to a large terraced open area. Anakin watched the Jedi Master and Obi-Wan exchange a few words before a rather battered Renust Nju joined them.
Yet there was little time for more discussion, the droids were quickly forming a ring around them and closing in fast.
Some of the Loyalists were wounded, the Jedi were shadowing them closely but even they could not escape the carnage. Their numbers were dwindling, the droids were winning and then suddenly they stopped firing.
"What's going on?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan, but his Master made a gesture to silence him as the droids parted to let someone through. That someone was the familiar armoured figure of Jango Fett. His helmeted gaze was directed at the Jedi, his pose defiant.
"I have been told to inform you," the bounty hunter said slowly, "that if you surrender now your lives will be spared."
"We will not be hostages to be bartered with," Mace thundered.
"You speak for yourself, but what about them?" He nodded to the politicians.
"Neither will we," said Nalanda, stepping beside Anakin and staring straight at the bounty hunter. Her blaster was still smoking and her combat suit was burnt in several places, but her gaze was determined and cold. "And I know who you are." Nalanda walked towards Jango before anyone could stop her, staring him down. "You're not going to win."
"We'll see," Jango said lightly, levelling his blaster at her and shooting her at point-blank range.
"No!" the scream came involuntarily from Anakin's mouth just as Jango pulled the trigger. The blaster bolt hit Nalanda in the chest, throwing her back against him. He grabbed her wrist, but there was nothing he could have done.
Yet there was enough life in her to see Mace Windu respond, to see him deflect several shots before closing in on the bounty hunter and severing his head. Jango collapsed uselessly on the floor as the droids re-commenced firing. Anakin let Bail Organa take Senator Nalanda's limp form off him, leaving him free to fight until he heard Padmé's call through the Force again.
Anakin…suddenly the noise of the laserfire and the danger and everything disappeared. He could not only hear her he could feel her. He could feel how she felt about him and more, he could feel her pain.
A blaster bolt exploding into his arm brought him back, but the urge was still there. He had to go and help her, and he knew where she was. Despite what Obi-Wan or anyone said.
He just needed to find an opening.
"We're picking up something large emerging from hyperspace," said one of Neimoidian controllers to Gunray. "Several large capital ships, fighter…"
"But that can't be one of ours, surely?" Shu Mai chattered.
"It can't be…" Gunray muttered, a visual of the ships revealed them to have Republic markings. "The Republic have amassed a huge army, they're moving on the…" His face paled as the ships passed below them unscathed.
They had but minimal forces in orbit around the planet, the majority were focused on Caledra to trap the fools who had gone there. But this meant…
"Attack them at their flank!" Gunray barked, his voice shaking with rage. "All fighters deploy at once!"
"Not a wise move, Viceroy," Dooku quietly told him as the Republic starfighters opened fire on them. They could only watch as gunships were deployed towards the city.
In the lead gunship sat Yoda, behind him were many, many more gunships that he had brought from Kamino along with the capital ships—called star destroyers—and the clonetroopers. It was all part of the plan he and Mace Windu had constructed back on Coruscant.
"Around the survivors a perimeter create," Yoda ordered as his gunship approached the city.
"Yes sir," the clone pilot said, relaying the command to all other units.
The gunships were a welcome relief to those remaining on the ground, once the rest of the droids were wiped out the ships landed and they scrambled on board.
But Anakin hesitated, remembering Padmé's call through the Force.
"Anakin, what are you doing?" Obi-Wan could see his apprentice was starting to move away.
"I'm going to help Padmé," he said, running back into the city.
"Anakin! Anakin! Come back here!" Obi-Wan barked, but the ship was starting to take off. "Anakin!" He shook his head as the Padawan vanished from sight, wanting to jump down after him and drag him back.
His heart pounding in his ears, Anakin ran back through the city following his feelings.
I'm coming Padmé, he told her, hold on.
She wasn't dying, it wasn't the same feeling as when he had held his mother. But the urgency was still there, the fear that he could lose her just as he had lost his mother.
He found Padmé leaning against a wall at the top of a flight of stairs below the conference room, she was eyeing the descent precariously. Yet as he ran up smiling at her, something made him slow.
She wasn't as hurt as he had imagined her to be, her face was streaked with cuts and her red dress was torn and burnt. But what had made him start was the fact her right hand was severed at the wrist.
"Padmé, what happened?" he touched her shoulder and she almost collapsed. "Come on, I need to get you out of here."
Padmé didn't say anything, she merely allowed Anakin to support her as they went down the stairs. It was only when they were going back down the corridor where the suites were that she enquired about Senator Nalanda.
Anakin didn't answer, preferring to silently steer Padmé back to where he and Obi-Wan had left the ship.
"She's dead isn't she?" Padmé asked finally, Anakin's maintained silence confirmed her suspicions.
"Shoo! Shoo! Go away you horrible thing!" Threepio clanked noisily up the ramp of the ship as R2-D2 drove off the battledroids with electric sparks.
Artoo and Threepio had reluctantly stayed behind to guard the ship as Obi-Wan had bade them to do. It was only in the last few minutes that they had met these unwelcome adversaries. Yet there were only a few of them, most of the droids were heading towards the landing craft and back into space.
"What could be keeping Master Anakin?" Threepio asked as he emerged from the ship.
Artoo chirped a suggestion.
"For once I think you are right," Threepio remarked. "Surely all this noise and smoke around us must be occupying Master Anakin a great deal."
Artoo blatted in reply.
"That was quite uncalled for," the protocol droid said. "You know, you really should be careful that you don't get deactivated one of these days. Your behaviour will only get you into trouble."
"This is not good at all," Gunray murmured, the Republic was somehow gaining the upper hand, taking for granted that the Separatists were expecting little resistance. Not only gunships but armoured troops and heavy weapons. "Our resources are almost exhausted."
"I don't know how the Republic could have gotten an army so quickly," Dooku commented. "They must be made to pay for this treachery."
"I am authorising a full withdrawal," Gunray ordered, an aide relaying the command. "We must save what we can."
The Separatists were retreating, that was made plain by the number of ships running from the Republic's attack. Yoda's strategy had the Separatists engaged on five fronts, they couldn't have lasted the barrage for long anyway.
"Where is Dooku?" Mace asked Obi-Wan.
"He…escaped," Obi-Wan replied, staring out at the vast expanse of clouds and cursing himself for doing nothing.
"Blame not yourself, Obi-Wan," Yoda murmured, his gaze alert, "focus on this we must now."
The gunship's doors closed and it entered space to regroup on board the Republic capital ships. Around them were the many starfighters, engaging the droid fighters and allowing them a path.
Where Obi-Wan and the others were was anyone's guess, but Anakin knew that they weren't going to wait around for him. And it was a pretty big ask to expect the ship he borrowed from Senator Nalanda was still there.
Yet it was, and completely untouched. Threepio and Artoo were arguing as he approached yet they got on board when he told them to. R2-D2 got the ship off the ground as he helped Padmé onto the couch at the back of the ship. She had almost passed out and was murmuring softly, exhaustion probably.
He applied a bacta patch to her wound and threw Obi-Wan's cloak over her where he had left it earlier then raced back to the cockpit and took over.
"Threepio, I need you to help me," Anakin ordered, emerging into space with the remnants of the Federation fleet still engaging the Republic.
"But Master Anakin I couldn't—"
"Threepio!"
"Of course, sir," the droid said if somewhat timidly, sitting obediently in the co-pilot's seat.
He reverted all power to the engines and the forward shields as he entered the fray head on. The retreat was still in full-swing and while he itched to help in the fight himself their escape was his first priority. Besides, the ship he had wasn't the best for a space battle.
"How soon till we're clear of all this?" he asked Threepio.
"Not far, Master Anakin, not far," the droid said.
The ship shuddered violently as their shield generator was taken out. Anakin cursed, knowing what the hit had done.
"Master Anakin!" Threepio wailed. "We've just lost our—"
"I know! I know!" Anakin barked, putting the ship into a dive.
"And there's three fighters on out…"
"I know! I know!" Anakin put the ship into a steep dive. "Hang on!"
From the war room on board the Republic flagship Obi-Wan could see Anakin's ship, evading the shots of the Federation fighters with phenomenal skill. Yet it wasn't for long, the droid fighters thinned as they returned to their stations. And despite everyone's best efforts the Separatists escaped into hyperspace, leaving the Republic behind.
In the silence that followed Obi-Wan looked around the room. The tired, battered, bloodied Jedi. contemplating on what had happened. War had broken out in the galaxy for the first time in a thousand years. And Obi-Wan could not help but think of what had happened at the end of that millennium-ago war.
What place in the galaxy did the Jedi have now?
"You lied to me!" Kanesh roared pointing an accusatory finger at Count Dooku.
"I did nothing of the sort," Dooku replied silkily, he sat a chair before a control panel. On the screen lay the design for a curious weapon, the ultimate weapon as the Geonosians called it. A spherical battle station the size of a small moon.
"You promised that it would be a small sacrifice on our part," the Brolg continued. "We have lost the planet, we may have lost the war."
"Quite the contrary," Dooku said, getting up and standing over the Brolg. "We did retreat, but it is the Republic that have lost, not us." He smiled, further initiating Kanesh. "We have not only won this battle, we shall keep on winning until the Republic can no longer fight."
"Fine words from one standing on the shores of defeat," Kanesh retorted. "I should never have sided with you. The Senate shall hear of this, they shall know what you—" He started, gasped for breath as his windpipe contracted involuntarily. Dooku walked towards him, his fingers poised as if grasping something.
"You will find that quite unwise," Dooku said acidly, watching the Brolg's face change colour before falling to the floor. Dooku returned to sit behind the control panel, transferring the readouts onto a small datapad and leaving the room, Kanesh's body still on the floor.
He had talked to Obi-Wan before he had entered hyperspace, now Anakin sat in the pilot's seat remembering what had happened. Would it have turned out differently if he had not gone to find his mother? Perhaps something could have happened to Obi-Wan, but would Senator Nalanda have lived? He doubted it, for all her courage in confronting her attacker face to face her death was merely one of many in the battle and in what was sure to follow.
And Padmé, would she feel any differently now? Seeing her again had made all his feelings come back, and perhaps after what she had been through she would see him differently.
"Hello." Padmé walked up to him with a soft smile, the cloak hung around her shoulders and hiding her severed hand. She was still shaky, but alert and calm.
He smiled and lifted his feet for her to sit down, and then he waited for her to tell him what had happened. She didn't, well she would in time.
"What happened down there?" she finally asked him in a distant voice. "I was fi—I was doing something else and missed everything."
He gave her a rough account of the facts he knew, which wasn't as much as he would have liked.
"And Senator Nalanda?"
"She was shot," Anakin told her flatly. "She walked right into the line of fire and Jango Fett shot her. He's dead now." He added as if that made it better.
Padmé said nothing, she looked down, her eyes hard.
"It's my fault," she murmured. "I should have been there."
"But how could you have known?" Anakin protested.
"Of course I couldn't have known!" Padmé flashed. "But it was my job, my duty to protect her and I failed. Don't you understand that?" She shook her head. "No, no you don't. You couldn't."
"Padmé—" he moved to touch her but she evaded his grasp.
"No," she said shortly, getting up from the seat and walking to the back of the ship. He made no motion to follow her, much as he wanted to.
In an abandoned building in the industrial sector of Coruscant known as 'The Works', the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious awaited the return of his apprentice, Lord Tyrannus. Yet he was not the only apprentice, there was also Typhon inside the Jedi Temple. As much as it had plagued him at first to dispense with the Rule of Two—a convention set up by Darth Bane who had reformed the Sith into what it now was—it had it's advantages. Other than the fact that Sidious would be privy to the deliberations of the Jedi Council, Sidious would be able to control the war more freely. He would be in a much better position to see the emergence of the Sith.
There came the drone of repulsor engines, Tyrannus had returned
"The Force is with us, Master Sidious," Count Dooku said as he emerged from his ship.
"Welcome home, Lord Tyrannus," greeted the cowled figure of Sidious. "You have done well."
"I have good news for you, my lord," Dooku continued as he fell into step beside his master. "The war has begun."
"Excellent," remarked Sidious, "everything is going as planned."