What if Darth Maul killed Obi-Wan Kenobi
DISCLAIMER
It is widely known that the Star Wars Universe is the creation of "The Man" George Lucas and most of the characters and settings in this story are the sole property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. I am making no money from this story and no copyright infringement is intended. Star Wars is someone else's toy I am merely taking it down from the shelf and playing with it for a while.
In the Star Wars reality as we know it Qui-Gon Jinn is separated from Obi-Wan in their battle with Darth Maul and killed. But, what if Qui-Gon had not died? What if it was Obi-Wan that was drawn off to a solo battle and defeated? What would life have then been like for the Chosen One of prophecy? Indeed how would this one event change the course of history for the entire galaxy?
Chapter Seven: The Perils of PalpatineIt's been two years since Anakin Skywalker was raised to the rank of Knight in the Jedi Order. The war between the Separatist forces and the Republic has continued unabated. Despite the seemingly countless hordes of battle droids the Separatist's continue to produce and use, the Republic's armies of clones combined with Jedi command teams have made slow but steady gains over them. Planet by planet the Separatist forces have been pushed off the worlds they have invaded and conquered. With each system that is set free public support for the Separatist cause dwindles as stories of their ruthless supression of the native populations are finally able to be told. Most damning of all were the reports of their use of native populations as living shields.
Despite their loss of public support or perhaps because of it the Separatists fought even harder, willing to commit ever greater atrocities in their attempts to prevail over the Republic forces arrayed against them. While ultimately unsuccessful at retaining their captured territories the Separatists were able to inflict heavy losses on the Republic forces. Many clones and the Jedi teams posted with them perished at the hands of the new Separatist leaders General Grievious and Assajj Ventress while saving the living shields they hid their forces behind. And the terrible war dragged on...
Qui-Gon Jinn was in trouble. Long recognized as one of the Jedi Order's most capable swordsmen it wasn't often that he met someone able to challenge him. Even rarer were the occasions that he ran up against someone who made him doubt his ability to eventually win against them. This time though he was not only unsure of winning but rapidly beginning to believe that he had a good chance of losing this battle. His opponent had so far matched his Ataru fighting style move for move. Remembering his battle with his former Master Count Dooku, Qui-Gon decided to see if a sudden change in fighting style would gain him an advantage. Swiftly and smoothly Qui-Gon switched to the Makashi style only to find his opponent had done precisely the same thing! Blows, parries, and counter attacks flew fast and furious as Qui-Gon and his opponent battled for the central line. The upper hand switched back and forth several times as first Qui-Gon then his opponent would gain the advantage but be unable to keep it.
Qui-Gon studied his opponent as they strove against each other. He had crossed blades with this being many times during the war but something was different this time. Always driven to win his opponent was calmer and more focused while at the same time more determined to defeat the Jedi Master than ever before. Suddenly it was his opponent who switched fighting styles looking for an advantage. Qui-Gon was now facing the Djinn style as his opponent used its strong fierce attacks in an attempt to batter through his defenses with brute force. Had Qui-Gon stayed in the Makashi style the sudden change might have succeeded, but Qui-Gon had automatically and without concious thought switched to the highly defensive style of Soresu and used it to balance the highly offensive style of his opponent. After long moments of blow and counterblow the combatants put a bit of space between them and paused in their battle to study their foe while breathing heavily trying to recover from the furious pace of their battle.
Qui-Gon, studying his opponent, again came to the conclusion that he might not win this fight. He realized that this fact did not sadden him. On the contrary he felt a fierce joy rush through him! With a smile on his face he opened himself wide to the Force and leapt to renew the battle even as his opponent did the same. The battle of will and skill that ensued was a contest the likes of which have rarely been seen. Each being was determined to give this fight every thing they had. They flashed between styles so quickly that a spectator, had there been one, would not have been able to keep up. Gone were thoughts and concerns of victory or defeat. Subsumed in the Living Force both beings were focused solely on doing their utmost. Eventually the two again seperated and paused breathing hard once again. The joy in Qui-Gon's heart swelled to new heights and he could hold it in no longer.
"You have learned amazingly well. I have never seen you fight better than you have here today." Qui-Gon said still smiling widely at his opponent.
"Thank you Master. I'm doing my best to follow your example." Anakin replied.
"You know Anakin while I am a Jedi Master, as a Knight you are no longer obligated to call me Master all the time." Qui-Gon said gently. Anakin, however, looked crestfallen.
"I thought you knew..." Anakin started and then broke off sounding uncertain.
"You thought I knew what?" Qui-Gon asked urging Anakin to explain.
"I haven't called you Master in the Master/Padawan sense since my first year as your Padawan."
"Really?" Qui-Gon again urged Anakin to go on.
"When I called you Master I..." Anakin paused and looked into Qui-Gon's eyes. "I was and am really calling you Father."
"Yes I know. I didn't know if you had realized it though." Qui-Gon smiled at Anakin.
"I didn't for a long time. It was almost losing you on Balmora when you called me Son of your Heart that it really sank in. I realized then what I had really meant each time I called you Master. You don't mind that I have continued to do so do you?" Anakin rushed to finish obviously anxious to know.
"Anakin I meant it when I called you Son of my Heart. I could not be any more proud of you or love you more if we were Father and Son in flesh as well as spirit!" The two men stepped forward and hugged each other fiercely.
"I love you too Father." Anakin told Qui-Gon directly for the first time ever. Shortly the two broke apart and stepping back a few paces Qui-Gon raised and ignited his training saber.
"However this will not get you out of this training session. I still have a few tricks left you know. You haven't won yet!" Qui-Gon said with the wide smile back on his face. Anakin raised and ignited his own training saber.
"You underestimate my power! Out of respect for my elders I've been taking it easy on you." Anakin replied, the smile on his face and the warmth in his tone belieing any taunt or arrogance in his words.
"Elder is it? I shall have to make you eat those words!" Qui-Gon retorted, his smile growing even wider as the two took a step forward to renew their sparring session. Who would have emerged victorious will never be known though, as before they could renew the contest a strident warning tone sounded across the ships intercomm system.
"That's R2's signal for an emergency comm message!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Let's go see what's coming in." Qui-Gon said as he shut down his training saber on his way out of the training area heading forward.
In the cabin Anakin took the pilots seat and began preparing the navi-computer for an emergency flight to wherever the emergency message might end up sending them. Qui-Gon at the comm station quickly decrypted and authenticated the message and then put it on audio.
"Attention all Republic forces not immediately engaged with Separatist units. Coruscant is under direct Separatist attack! All unengaged forces are to immediately return to Coruscant to participate in its defense!" was all the message said and repeated in a continuous loop.
"Take us to Coruscant, best possible speed Anakin. And take us in cloaked." Qui-Gon ordered.
"Laying in hyperspace coordinates now Master. Cloaking system will be active in thirty seconds." Anakin answered in a calm and collected manner. "We aren't as close to Coruscant as we could be but with the Shadow Wraith's hyper drives we should be in system in a few hours." Anakin announced. Qui-Gon nodded his acceptance and waited for the ship to be ready. Moments later the Shadow Wraith was prepped and faded from sensors and visual view. "Cloaking device active and hyperdrive course laid in and ready." Anakin announced.
"Do it!" ordered Qui-Gon. The stars of deep space around them lengthened to long lines as their view transitioned to the tunnel of light that was the visual representation of hyperspace. "Excellent. Now, we both used up quiet a bit of energy sparring earlier. I suggest we spend part of the time meditating and restoring ourselves in the Force." Qui-Gon said.
"I will Master. R2 alert us when we're an hour out from our reversion point will you?" Anakin asked. R2 chirped an affirmative reply and both Jedi left to prepare themselves for whatever they might encounter ahead.
Hours later the Shadow Wraith reverted to real space in the Coruscant system near the capital planet, but far enough out to avoid landing on top of any ships engaged in a battle around the planet. They scanned the massive space battle in progress and tried unsuccessfully to reach command for orders.
"The jamming is too heavy for us to get anything through." Qui-Gon said.
"A moment Master. I might be able to find something out." Anakin said. "(Padme! Are you ok?)" he sent through their Force bond.
"(Anakin! Thank the Force you're here!)" Padme's sending flooded through his mind.
"(Do you know if the Seps have a goal in mind or is this a desperation attack?)" Anakin asked.
"(They had a goal and achieved it! General Grievious and a group of his Magna Guard droids managed to reach and capture Chancellor Palpatine. He sacrificed his Magna Guards to escape the planet with the Chancellor but as far as we can tell he hasn't been able to get out of the system yet.)"
"(You're sure he's still in system?)" Anakin demanded.
"(Yes! His emergency beacon is still active but we can't pinpoint its location due to all the jamming.)" Padme answered.
"(Understood. We're cloaked and should be able to get close enough to pinpoint the signal despite the jamming.)" Anakin assured her.
"(Be careful Anakin. General Grevious is very dangerous. He and his guard killed several Jedi trying to protect the Chancellor today.)" Padme cautioned.
"(As you wish My Lady. See you soon.)" Anakin replied sending her his love. Turning to Qui-Gon he relayed the situation to him even as he engaged the Shadow Wraith's engines and set course for the heart of the Separatist forces while Qui-Gon started their systems scanning for the Chancellor's beacon.
One would think being undetectable would make this kind of search rather easy but Anakin discovered the opposite was true. Anakin actually found it harder to detect and avoid the incidental dangers of the battle than intentional harm being conciously directed toward him. Many times it was only last minute manuvers, hard enought to be felt even with the inertial compensators dialed almost all the way up, that saved them from colliding with fast moving fighters of both factions that were unaware of their prescense or random turbo laser blasts that would have done serious damage if the Shadow Wraith had stayed in their path. After long minutes of searching the battle zone Qui-Gon announced success.
"I found him. His beacon is coming from their capital ship the Dragon's Wrath. We're practically on top of it." Qui-Gon reported. Anakin had just oriented on the Separatist capital ship when disaster struck. A vulture droids missile attack on a nearby Republic fighter missed its target and detonated near the Shadow Wraith. The Buzz droids contained in the missile were released right in the path of the Shadow Wraith and the ship had run through them before Anakin could change their vector. A majority of the small droids, unaware of the ship in their vicinity, were unprepared and simply bounced away from the Shadow Wraith. But some were angled just right and stuck to the Shadow Wraith's hull. Even without knowing exactly what kind of ship they were on their tiny processors instructed them to attack whatever they clung to. It was sheer happenstance that one buzz droid was right atop the delicate cloaking mechanism when it started drilling through the hull. The fact that arcing energy from the damaged system fried the Buzz droid did not console the Jedi much as the Shadow Wraith uncloaked in the middle of the Separatist fleet!
"Going evasive!" Anakin said as the previously indirect threats now became very direct dangers.
"Sith Spawned pests!" Qui-Gon grumbled as he reached out with the Force and flicked the Buzz droids off the ship before they could enact further sabotage. "Ships clear now." Qui-Gon said as he scanned the console in front of him. "Cloaking system is non responsive. R2 see what you can do with it. Shields online and weapons are hot. I'm assuming control of all non forward facing weapons. Are you ready to meld? Qui-Gon asked looking over at Anakin?
"I'm ready Master." was all Anakin said as even while he was fully engaged with avoiding incoming fire he reached a mental hand out to Qui-Gon, who grasped it with his own mental reach. With that connection and the absolute trust and faith they had for each other solid between them they quickly and easily slid into the most difficult Jedi technique, the Battle Meld. Gone were the separate individuals, what remained was a fusion of the two that was far stronger than any mere doubling of either one would have been. There was none of the struggle for control that caused so many battle melds to fail and was, in truth, why the technique was so seldom used. In the meld there wasn't even a sense of differing individuals, just one awareness of the dangers around the Shadow Wraith and what needed to be done to avoid or eliminate those dangers.
The Shadow Wraith went from a dangerous ship with a well coordinated crew to an absolutely lethal ship with a single awareness controlling it. Its constant intricate and somehow almost elegant dance of avoidance, instead of hindering its offensive fire, seemed to have the uncanny knack of putting its weapons in perfect line with a target at the exact moment they happened to fire. Slowly and inexorably, against what should have been impossible odds, the Shadow Wraith continued to advance on the Dragon's Wrath until at last there was an open path and the Shadow Wraith shot forward at full emergency thrust! The forward cannons lanced fire out in a precise shot that took out the force field generator that kept air pressure inside the open hanger bay,that was its goal. The sudden decompression caused the hanger's enormous physical doors to start rapidly sliding shut to stop the explosive air loss.
The Shadow Wraith killed its forward thrust at the last instant and, still moving at high speed toward the hanger entrance, rotated in space so it flew in the hanger backward with its nose just clearing the swiftly closing doors. As soon as it had the Shadow Wraith lurched and bucked as it again applied full emergency thrust in an effort to shed its momentum, relative to the ship it was now inside, before it crossed the the entire width of the massive hanger bay and smashed into the far wall with deadly results. The wash from its engines obliterated half the droids still in the hanger after the decompression. Outside a full squadron of the deadly droid Tri-Fighters following close on the Shadow Wraith were unable to avoid crashing into the, now closed, massive outer doors of the hanger. Their impacts, while not enough to destroy the doors air tight seal, did warp it badly enough that only time in a shipyard's repair facilities would open it again.
Inside the hanger, only the last second addition of the Shadow Wraith's repulsor drives to its main drives stopped it a mere handswidth from the back wall of the hanger. The main drives shut down and the ship floated forward away from the area superheated by the main drives and set down. Inside the two Jedi ended their battle meld and looked at each other.
"Well, that was interesting." Anakin said in a deadpan voice. R2 responded with a flat blat of derision.
"I agree, your ability for understatement is truly awe inspiring." Qui-Gon retorted. "Let's hope our leave taking is not quiet as 'eventful'.". A blaster bolt from one of the remaining battle droids spattered off the Shadow Wraith's transparisteel canopy at that moment.
"That's if we get to the leave taking part that is." Anakin replied as he grabbed his saber from his belt and moved to the boading ramp with Qui-Gon right behind him. Triggering a rapid opening of the ramp they rushed out with sabers flaring to life and already batting incoming blaster fire back at the droids shooting at them. The few remaining uncoordinated droids scattered across the hanger were no match for the two Jedi and were swiftly dispatched. Anakin spent a bit of extra time on his last opponent however. Not content with removing its weapon arm he continued with a flurry of slashes that not only removed its other limbs but also opened a gaping hole in its armored chest plating. With the Force he ripped its power core out of its socket and ended its almost human like cries.
"I can't believe whoever designed these things wasted what little programming space they have with those awful vocoder subroutines." Anakin said as he lifted the droids remains with the Force and towed it along as he and Qui-Gon walked back to the Shadow Wraith.
"I agree. But considering what kind of programming they could have been given I'm not going to complain." was Qui-Gon's reply.
"No argument there." Anakin said as they entered the Shadow Wraith. Anakin placed the Battle droid remains by R2-D2 who was still plugged into the Shadow Wraith. "Here you go R2. Are you sure you can hack into the military specced systems a ship like this is bound to have?" R2's reply was definitely scornful even without a translation. Maintaining its connection with the Shadow Wraith R2 leaned forward and inspected the battle droid remains before him.
A port opened on R2's front panel and a data jack emerged and plunged into the battle droids innards. A second tool emerged and deftly reconnected the power core. After a few moments the battle droid's head jerked up and scanned around jerkily.
"Warning! System intrusion! Starting Counterrrrrrrrrr" the droid's announcement of a system violation broke off into digital static that eventually went silent. Moments later R2 whistled his success and the battle droid said, "Task completed! I have gained control of this droid's systems including its comm frequencies and encryption protocols!"
"Good work R2!" Anakin said. "Has our prescense been reported yet?"
"Negative. The last report from this area appears to have been about the decomression. The local area jamming we employed as we entered prevented these droids from announcing our arrival." R2's whistled reply again also emerged from the battle droid in basic.
"Well that's a stroke of fortune in our favor. How's your slicing of their ships computer systems going?"
"Those systems are more heavily protected than this mere battle droid's was but I am making progress. I show the Chancellor being held in a forward presentation area one level below the bridge. I will have enough control to mask you from the ships internal sensors in two minutes. The most direct route to the Chancellor will be the main bridge tower lift but it is guarded by battle droids at each floor."
"We can handle the battle droids. Can you cover their disappearance and give us a straight trip up with no stops on the lift?"
"Affirmative."
"Ok, in addition to that get a signal out to the fleet. They need to keep this ship in system but I would rather they not destroy it while we're still aboard."
"Understood."
"Excellent! We're going to have to get you a vocoder installed permanently. It's much easier for us poor flesh and blood beings to understand you this way."
"Convenient for you maybe but I find basic so...limiting."
"Ouch. Master do you have anything else?" Anakin said turning to Qui-Gon.
"What's the status of the cloaking system?" Qui-Gon asked speaking up for the first time.
"It is inoperative but repairable. However unless otherwise ordered it has a lesser priority than contacting the fleet and monitoring hostile ship systems to aid in the retrieval mission and can not be done concurrently. I am only one droid after all!"
"Understood. We will have to deal without it when it comes time to leave if we get that far."
The two Jedi exited the Shadow Wraith and moved to stand on either side of the interior hanger doors. Staying well out of sight of anything on the other side they opened the entry doors and listened.
"Hey! Why did the hanger doors just open like that?" the distinctive voice of a battle droid was heard asking.
"Ah its just glitching again, ignore it. Our task is guarding this lift." answered a second droid.
"Well if you say so." the first droid said. Anakin and Qui-Gon peered around the edges of the door and saw the droids standing in front of the lift the Jedi needed to use. Qui-Gon gathered himself to rush the two droids when Anakin used the Force to tap him on the shoulder from the other side of the doorway. Anakin motioned for Qui-Gon to hold up for a second. Wondering what Anakin was up to this time Qui-Gon graciously motioned Anakin to precede him. However, instead of leading the rush to destroy the droids Anakin closed his eyes and let the Force flow. In the hallway the two battle droids suddenly turned to face each other and their arms holding their blasters rose until their weapons were leveled at each other.
"Hey! What do you think your doin?" one asked startled.
"I'm not doing anything what are you doing?" the other replied. Before they could say or do more their blasters fired sending devastating bolts of energy into their torsos. Both droids collapsed with the word "Why?" on their vocoders. As the two Jedi strode quickly toward the lift Anakin grinned at Qui-Gon.
"Be wary of taking pleasure in tormenting others, even droids, Anakin." Qui-Gon said tersely.
"Master? I took out the droids in the manner least dangerous to us. While I did find it darkly ironic that two machines should stop functioning asking the same question that so many living beings have cried out as they were killed by similar machines, I took no pleasure in destroying them just satisfaction that two more will never kill innocent beings or interfere with our rescue again." Anakin said in an even tone obviously concerned by the sudden rebuke from the Jedi Master. Qui-Gon looked at Anakin for long moments before sighing deeply and responding.
"Forgive me Anakin. I lashed out at the wrong person. It was I who took a dark pleasure in the droids destruction. You know how close I came to doing true evil in the name of revenge. I better than most should be alert to the dangers of reveling in destruction, and yet I did so regardless. Then I compounded my error by lashing out at you because I was angry at myself for my lapse."
"Easily forgiven Master. But..." Anakin paused.
"But?" Qui-Gon urged Anakin to finish his thought.
"But, I find myself wondering if you have realized what could be a far larger mistake on your part?" Anakin said hesitantly, clearly not wanting to offend.
"And what mistake would that be?" Qui-Gon asked his curiosity roused by Anakin's statement.
"Was it not you who told the Jedi Council that by limiting our attachments we removed vital buffers that could help us deal with loss?" Anakin asked.
"It was. Are you saying I am limiting my attachments and thereby causing my problem?" Qui-Gon said seeming amused.
"No Master. I am saying that instead of using those you are attached to to help you with something that has been bothering you, you have buried and suppressed those feelings until they boiled over out of control. Even if only for a moment." Anakin said. Qui-Gon started to make a quick reply but paused to rethink it, and then replied.
"I think you're right. I have perhaps grown too accustomed to being self sufficient for my own good."
"Master you know both Padme and I will always be there for you. You are not alone." Anakin said.
"(Sharding right we will be! Tell that misbegotten fool to quit acting the idiot!)" Padme sent fiercely to Anakin. While Anakin winced at the description he could tell there was no malice in the thoughts.
"Judging by that wince I don't think I want to know what Padme just said to you do I?" Qui-Gon said wryly.
"Other than her agreement with me, no not really Master." Anakin said with a smile to let Qui-Gon know that nothing truly hurtful had been said.
"I see. Well then, thank you Padme. I love you too." Qui-Gon said speaking as if Padme was right there knowing that with their connection she might as well be.
"(...Why that sly son of a...)"
"(Hey hey! Easy there My Lady!)" Anakin quickly interrupted.
"(Don't you easy me! Besides don't the two of you have a mission to finish?)" Padme asked archly.
"(True.)" Anakin answered her. "Master Padme reminds me that we do have some unfinished..." Anakin was cut short as a blaster bolt from one of three Droidekas that had just rounded the corridor's far corner flashed between them and spanged off the lift doors. "Business that should be taking priority." Anakin finished his sentence as he and Qui-Gon started deflecting bolts back at the already shielded Droidekas while waiting for the lift to arrive. When the lift doors opened behind them they backed into it deflecting shots until the doors slid shut and shielded them.
"Freeze Jedi scum!" the familiar voice of a battle droid rang out from right behind them! Without even pausing to look, both men spun, one in each direction. Qui-Gon swung high and Anakin swung low. As both men stopped their swing just short of the other man the squad of battle droids in the back of the lift clattered to the floor, each one in at least three separate pieces. Anakin shut down his saber and raised his comm link.
"R2 we're in the lift. Oh and be ready, three destroyer droids chased us in here and they will probably head your way next." R2's reply chirped over the comm as the lift, responding to the astromech's remote control, started a smooth ascent.
Back on the hanger deck, just as Anakin had predicted, the destroyer droids rolled into the hanger and immediately opened fire on the Shadow Wraith and kept on blasting at it even though their blasters were not strong enough to penetrate its armor, much less its shields. Suddenly one of the rear facing cannon turrets on the Shadow Wraith swiveled and with one shot apiece blew the droids to bits as if the droids own shields weren't even there. Inside R2 observed the destroyed droids and whistled softly.
"What a waste." the limbless battle droid on the floor that R2 was still jacked into translated for the human crew that wasn't there.
On the presentation deck located just one floor under the bridge and command deck two battle droids stood guard outside the lift doors just as their counterparts had on the hanger deck.
"I don't know why they make us stand guard here!" one droid said aloud to the other.
"Well we are on red alert." the other droid said.
"Ah come on!" The first one cried out. "This is the presentation deck! Even if we were boarded no one's going to invade the presentation deck!" Just then both droids stiffened as the lift doors behind them swished open.
"Oh you just had to say it didn't you!" said the second droid.
"It's not my fault!" the first droid claimed. "Check and see who's there."
"I'm not going to check first! They always kill whoever checks first!"
"Well I'm not going to check first! I know we'll let Mikey check it!"
"Ah he won't check it. Mikey never checks anything."
"Yeah." the first droid drooped then perked back up. "I'm gonna try anyway!" he exclaimed and looked down the hall and motioned to a super battle droid stationed there. "Hey Mikey! There's something weird with the lift come take a look!" it called. The super battle droid appeared to consider dissmissing them then obviously recalled the red alert conditions and turned and started lumbering toward the lift.
"Hey! He's checking! Mikeys checking on it! Hey Mikey!" the second droid cried in elated surprise as the super battle droid lumbered up and peered around the edge of the open lift doors. Mikey must have seen something alarming as it took one glance inside and stiffened then literally flew into the lift to do battle.
"Hey Mikey sure is brave, leaping into battle like that! He's my Hero!" the first droid said.
"Yeah he practically dove in head first!" the second droid agreed. "Hey wait! Is that a Lightsaber I just heard?"
"Nah couldn't be. No way has a Jedi boarded the ship and we don't hear about it. Mikey just needs to oil his servos." the first droid reassured its partner. Just then with a great clatter Mikey came flying back out the lift doors in numerous red hot pieces!
"Oh my Creator! They killed Mikey!" the first battle droid cried out.
"You Bastards!" the second joined in with dismay.
"For Mikey!" both battle droids cried out as they turned to face the lift raising their blasters preparing to kill whatever foe was inside. The Lightsaber blades that emerged from the lift and speared them straight through their power cores ended their attempt at revenge and soon silence descended in the corridore outside the lift. Anakin and Qui-Gon exited the lift stepping over the now nonfunctioning droids.
"It's just not a good day to be a sentry droid." Anakin said.
"Indeed." Qui-Gon agreed as the two Jedi strode towards the entrance to the presentation deck.
Down on the hanger deck, outside of the hanger where the Shadow Wraith sat, an advanced tactics and command droid was giving orders to two squads of battle and super battle droids.
"Yes the enemy ship took out three destroyer droids through their shields but, the cannon it used is too slow to stop you all. Enough will survive and board the ship to easily incapacitate whatever crew is still aboard." it said in its smarmy and condescending tones. "Now go and report back to me when you have secured the ship." The ranks of battle and super battle droids moved out at their fastest pace, which even for the lighter battle droids wasn't really all that fast, and headed straight for the open boarding ramp of the Shadow Wraith.
From the open hatch the exhuberant chittering of an astromech droid could be heard followed by the voice of a battle droid. "You shouldn't have believed it!" the voices said. Just then two anti-personnel blasters dropped down from hatches under the wings and opened fire. Cunningly protected by the flaps that had opened for them the blasters were undamaged by the small amount of return fire the last droids standing managed to let loose before they were rendered permanently inoperative.
On the presentation deck Anakin and Qui-Gon stopped outside a doorway.
"It feels like the Chancellor is on the other side of this door." Anakin said.
"I agree." Qui-Gon answered. "I don't sense anyone else living in there but it doesn't feel right."
"We can pop the door and take out anything that comes through at us. Better to funnel down whatever is in there than let them spread out on us." Anakin suggested.
"I agree again. Let's do it." Qui-Gon said. They each picked a side of the doors to wait beside and when ready they triggered the door sensor while staying out of sight of anything or anyone inside the room and listened using the Force to enhance their hearing. They heard the soft sounds of droid servo motors in sudden action and both Jedi could almost see droid heads swiveling to look at the suddenly open doors. Numerous softly clanking footsteps could be heard moving toward the doord and Anakin looked at Qui-Gon.
"Assassin Droids." he mouthed silently to Qui-Gon when a soft meloduous voice called out from deep in the large area.
"Halt! Return to your posts. Force whoever opened the door to come to us. Our numbers will allow us to surround them and we will be triumphant." Anakin looked to Qui-Gon with a frown.
"Tactical command model." he mouthed silently.
"First target." Qui-Gon mouthed back with a fatalistic shrug as he waved Anakin on in. The two Jedi quickly and smoothly moved inside the room and took in the scene before them.
They had stepped into a large room two decks deep. Walkways with waist high railings started at either side of the upper level entrance they had entered and progressed back to smaller doors midway along the walls. Two large stairways led down from their entry area evidently bracketing a large lower level door underneath them. The deck below was open and level until it reached the far end of the room where a stage like area was high enough to easily view the entire room when filled with troops. Behind the stage enormous sheets of transparisteel made huge windows that offered a truly magnificent view of the Separatist ship forward of the command tower and of the ongoing battle in space around them.
On the stage itself was a throne like chair in which sat Chancellor Palpatine, his wrists cuffed to the arms of the high backed chair. Next to the Chancellor's chair stood one of the medium height and almost portly looking tactical command droids. On the main floor stood at least two dozen of the lethal Seperatist assassin droids. Housing on board processors and capable of independant action these droids were not subject to remote control and were highly skilled in infiltration and melee combat.
"Chancellor Palpatine!" Anakin called. "I'm sorry but an emergency on Coruscant requires your immediate attention. I'm afraid you'll have to cancel your cruise."
"That's upsetting news Anakin." Palpatine replied. "I am of course most willing to obey the call of my office if needed. However, my activities director and its assistants are most insistent that I stay for their planned festivities." Palpatine said while throwing accusing looks at the droids in the room.
"I believe we can change their minds." Qui-Gon said looking directly at the command droid.
"That is enough trivial conversation." the command droid said in its arrogantly superior tones. "Surrender Jedi or you will perish." it ordered.
"Yes enough of this." Qui-Gon said and reached a hand out to the command droid.
"Assassin droids target the Jedi and Kiiiilllllll Theeeeeemmmmmm!" the command droids last two words elongated into a wail as Qui-Gon launched it into the air headed in a long arc right at the Jedi. As it sailed between them their sabers flashed to life weaving brilliant arcs of emerald and azure light. The command droid hit the deck in eight separate pieces.
In response to its last wailed order the assassin droids powered up their assorted melee weapons. Not true light saber type weapons they had physical blades but the arcs of purple energy that now coursed up and down them would repel a light saber. Splitting into two ranks they divided their forces to rush each stairway leading up to the Jedi.
Just as the lead droids reached the top of the stairs the two Jedi ran forward and leapt a great distance over the rushing droids, landing behind their advancing lines. In almost perfect syncronization, the lines of assassin droids stopped and reversed their course. The formerly rearmost droids were now in the forefront and launched vicious attacks at the Jedi as soon as they landed.
Qui-Gon and Anakin were ready for them however and easily blocked the droids first attacks. Then moving back to back they became a whirling duet in a ballet of destruction. In constant motion the two Jedi never faced a single droid for more than a single block before continuing their spin to face the next droid in line. As the droids massed around them more and more blows were launched at the Jedi as droids with longer weapons attacked between the chassis' of the droids in the front ring encircling the Jedi. Suddenly, at a barked command from Qui-Gon, the two Jedi switched from a two handed grip on their sabers to a one handed grip and started using their free hands to deliver telekinetic blows with the Force to either block attacks or land blows of their own. The droids numbers, however, were slowly putting the Jedi more and more on the defensive. Even when a Force blow managed to knock a droid down another took its place and the fallen were soon up and attacking again.
At a second barked command from Qui-Gon the Jedi reversed their spin and increased their pace. The reversal took the droids by surprise and by the time they adjusted to it the inner ring of six droids lay in smoking pieces making treacherous footing for their fellow droids. The remaining droids quickly abandoned the effort to clear their footing when the first two to try literally lost their heads over it. The now blinded but not destroyed droids flailed wildly and dispatched two more of their force before the remaining droids ended their threat permanently, although two more were beheaded by the Jedi while eliminating the danger next to them. These droids were also dispatched by their commrads but this time by the ring behind them out of reach of the Jedi. The remaining twelve droids again closed ranks and renewed their attack.
Qui-Gon barked his command again but the droids reacted faster to the change of rotation this time and only lost two more of their number. Again the assassin droids closed their deadly ring around the Jedi. Despite their brilliant team work the Jedi were having to work harder than ever to keep the droids blades from their flesh.
Qui-Gon again barked out his command. This time the droids reacted even faster than the Jedi and only heroic defensive efforts by the two Jedi kept their skins intact. The droids pushed harder and harder until with a look of desperation on his face Qui-Gon again barked out his command.
Again the droids reacted with mechanical speed and precision to the anticipated change in direction by the Jedi. Four more droids were down in bisected pieces before they could process the fact that the Jedi hadn't reversed direction this time. Recovering, the final six closed their deadly ring again.
Once more the droids drew in closer and closer, pressing the Jedi until their victory seemed eminent when Qui-Gon again barked his command. The assassin droids froze for just an instant to see which way the Jedi were going to move this time. The Jedi instead stopped their whirling dance of death and dropped to one knee and slammed their empty hands down on the deck releasing a devestating blast of Force energy outward. The remaining droids and all the pieces of the destroyed ones were flung away from the Jedi to crash hard to the deck. Qui-Gon and Anakin sprang apart and dispatched the remaining active droids before they could even hope to recover. Breathing deeply but easily the two men looked at each other over the remains of the droids.
"Well that worked better than we anticipated!" Anakin said breaking into a wide grin of success.
"Indeed. Their pattern recognition software was their weakness this time. But, let's get the Chancellor out of here before..."
"Before what Jedi?" a distinctive voice boomed out, breaking into Qui-Gon's words. The two men looked toward the sound of the voice coming from a side entrance and saw the mechanized form of General Grevous stalking quickly toward them igniting two Lightsabers, stolen from Jedi he had slain, as he approached.
"Before we are forced to waste more time destroying any more useless droids." Anakin quipped.
"Gah! I shall enjoy adding your sabers to my collection Jedi scum!" General Grievous roared as he leapt to close the distance and engage the Jedi.
Qui-Gon and Anakin were now the ring surrounding the defensive Grievous. They circled the cyborg launching multitudes of fast probing strikes from all heights and angles. General Grievous was a match for them however, first rotating with them then reversing his movements much as they had earlier. Anakin was just about to taunt Grievous further in the hopes of aggravating him into a mistake when he saw a slim pale figure in dark robes come racing into the room from a door on the far side of the room. Assajj Ventress was in play and racing straight for the Chancellor with her twin crimson sabers lit!
"Master! Ventress!" Anakin yelled as he suddenly stepped clear of their melee with Grievous and leveled a telekinetic Force blast at Ventress that knocked her skidding and bouncing back to the far wall.
General Grievous seeing Anakin's focus change moved to attack the young Jedi only to receive a massive telekinetic blast of his own as Qui-Gon took quick action to save Anakin. Like Ventress Grievous found himself bouncing and skidding across the floor until he slammed into the wall next to the door he had entered from. Qui-Gon moved quickly to take advantage of Grievous while he was down but the cyborg recovered too fast and Qui-Gon quickly found himself on the defensive, alone against the whirling sabers of the Separatist General. Forced to give ground or go down under those blades Qui-Gon was nearing the door when he used the Force to grab one of the assassin droid's still energized weapons and tried to telekinetically plunge it into Grievous's back. He discovered that while the energy coursing up and down the blade would block a light saber, and cut apart an assassin droid with sufficient force applied, it did nothing to help cut through the cyborg's denser exoskeleton. General Grievous faltered a moment at the blow from behind and Qui-Gon used that time to pull the droid weapon to his free hand. It wouldn't help offensively but it would help keep Grievous's two sabers at bay. Qui-Gon continued to back into the corridor, hoping a more enclosed space would prove beneficial.
Inside the presentation room Anakin took up a firm stance between Assajj Ventress and the Chancellor.
"Anakin I thought you had killed her on that moon of Yavin IV." Chancellor Palpatine said to Anakin. Assajj Ventress rising from her landing spot glared at the Chancellor and sneered.
"Well I did push her into a really deep chasm and watched her fall out of sight down it. I figured it was a done deal. Tell me Ventress how did you survive that fall?" Anakin asked. Ventress's only reply was a snarl of rage as she slowly stalked toward Anakin.
Down in the hanger heaps of battle droids, super battle droids, and destroyer droids lay piled up just inside the various entrances to the hanger. Over loud address speakers on the Shadow Wraith R2-D2's tittering laughter accompanied by a battle droid's mirth rolled out across the bay. Outside the main entrance a command droid tried to give instructions to a mixed group of droids.
"Ignore the astromech…" it started in its over modulated tones.
"Are you crazy?" a battle droid broke in. "That puny little punk astromech is laughing at us!" the battle droid exclaimed and when the other droids around him sounded off with similar bursts of poorly programmed robotic fury he continued. "I say we rush it all together? We'll show it who's boss!" Waving his fellow droids forward it rushed into the hanger with all but the command droid and two assassin droids in tow.
"That's how all the rest of them were destroyed too." The command droid told the assassin droids. "Follow and let them draw its fire. That ship's ramp is still down. Avoid its fire and board it and disable that astromech without destroying it. I want to siphon off its memory banks before I slowly lower it into acid!" From the hanger sounds of the sleek ship's weapons could be heard. "Go now!" the command droid ordered and the assassin droids broke into a fast run into the hanger.
The two assassin droids made it halfway to the Shadow Wraith before the other droids were wiped out. Then using the acrobatic ability their line was known for the assassin droids avoided the incoming fire while making steady progress toward the lowered boarding ramp. Finally reaching the ramp they rushed up it and quickly made their way to the command cabin. R2 let out a squeal of surprise the limbless battle droid translated as, "Hey! Get out of here!" as the invading droids burst into the cockpit.
"Cease resistance astromech! You are now a prisoner of the Separatist forces!" one of the assassin droids said in its typically flat tones.
R2s chirping laughter rang out again echoed by the battle droids laughter as well, as bolts of electricity burst from the cabin's door frame and coursed over the assassin droids. The enemy droids danced and jittered under the current until it shut down and they fell to the deck motionless. R2 studied them for a moment and then set the ships weapons to fire automatically on anything not living and removed its connection to the disabled battle droid before starting to roll toward the nearest assassin droid.
"Well this clearly isn't working." Qui-Gon thought in disgust to himself as General Grievous pushed and harried him farther and farther away from the hanger. Grabbing the weapon from the defeated assassin droid had given Qui-Gon enough defense to match the cyborg's sheer offense for a while but as they moved down the corridor the weapons lack of offensive effectiveness and its sheer weight compared to a Lightsaber were taking a toll on the Jedi Master.
"You are losing Jedi!" General Grievous crowed! "Surrender now and I promise you a swift death!"
"Why in the Force would I do a thing like that?" Qui-Gon burst out.
"Wha?..." Grievous, stunned by the vehemence of Qui-Gon's reply, slowed his attacks in astonishment. "Don't tell me you prefer more pain rather than less when you die?"
"Are you mocking me or just being dense?" Qui-Gon snapped! "Of course I would prefer a painless death."
"Then surrender and I'll make your end merciful!" General Grievous roared in frustration!
"There you go again!" accused Qui-Gon.
"There I go what again?" Grievous demanded renewing his attack in frustrated rage.
"Act like I believe I'm about to lose this fight and be killed by you!" said Qui-Gon, his tone dripping with pride shredding incredulity at the idea of defeat at the hands of the cyborg.
"What can save you now?" Grievous raged! "I will be your doom!" the cyborg yelled as he redoubled his efforts to slay Qui-Gon.
"Simple." Qui-Gon retorted blithely. "I haven't tried this yet." And he snapped out a sudden swift kick at General Grievous's leading knee. "Ah!" Qui-Gon exclaimed in pain and fell back a few steps, limping on that foot now. General Grievous roared laughter.
"Now who is being dense? With tactics that poor it's a wonder you have lived this long!" leaping forward bringing both his weapons down in a vicious attack that forced Qui-Gon to use both his weapons to block. Straining to keep the sabers at bay Qui-Gon desperately lifted his injured foot to try another kick at the armored cyborg's torso this time. Grievous saw the move coming and amazed that the reputedly powerful Jedi Master would try such a futile move twice barked a laugh of derision and squared his chest deliberately leaving himself wide open.
CRUNCH!
The plates covering General Grievous's chest caved in and he was flung backward down the corridor to crash into a bulkhead! He lay there stunned, the damage to his respiratory system causing him to cough deeply and hoarsely.
"I wouldn't sneer at other's tactics when you stand stock still and let someone do that to you." Qui-Gon said as he approached the slowly rising cyborg. Again the two beings clashed with Qui-Gon continuing to reinforce the blows of his feet and weapon hilts with telekinetic attacks through the Force. They battled more or less evenly until Qui-Gon started hitting Grievous with Force blows that weren't connected with any other attack. Unable to protect himself from the blows he couldn't see coming Grievous started having more and more trouble fending off Qui-Gon's saber. It was now General Grievous who was yielding ground to stay alive.
Never one to continue a losing fight Grievous was about to quit the fight and retreat when a squad of four super battle droids appeared at the far end of the corridor. General Grievous stepped forward and brought his sabers down and in at Qui-Gon's shoulders, again forcing Qui-Gon to use both his weapons to block. Grievous tried to use his superior mass and weight to drive their weapons down on Qui-Gon. Bolstered with the Force Qui-Gon was able to stand tall under Grievous's tactics and the two beings locked eyes, making it a contest of wills as well as strength.
"And now you die Jedi!" General Grievous couldn't resist saying as the super battle droids leveled their blaster arms and prepared to fire. Saying nothing Qui-Gon exerted himself in the Force and shoved Grievous's weapons up and out leaving his crumpled and damaged chest armor wide open and vulnerable. Then instead of saying anything or attacking his wide open opponent Qui-Gon, heeding the Force, dropped flat to the ground just as the super battle droids opened fire! The shots slammed in and blasted large holes in General Grievous's already damaged torso armor. Unable to penetrate all the way to the cyborgs remaining organic organs, the shots had left those organs unprotected and vulnerable!
Pushing hard against the floor Qui-Gon rapidly regained his feet and again locked gazes with the cyborg as it stepped back a few paces and brought its arms across its damaged chest.
"Not today." Qui-Gon said as he took a step forward and this time leaped up and over Grievous. The second volley of incoming fire shattered the cyborgs arms leaving sparking stumps at the mechanical elbows as the twitching hands, still wrapped around the stolen Lightsabers, fell and clattered to the deck.
Hearing the Jedi land behind him and visualizing the swing that would bring his Lightsaber around and send his head to join his hands General Grievous plunged forward down the hall toward the super battle droids. "Stop firing!" he yelled at the droids even as he heard the distinctive sound of a Lightsaber slash the air behind him. What little blood he had left in his cyborg body ran cold as the equally distinctive sound of that Lightsaber connecting with a target sounded at the base of his skull! Amazed that he didn't instantly fall dying to the deck General Grievous nonetheless continued fleeing toward the super battle droids at top speed. Shouldering the middle two aside and knocking them to the ground the cyborg never looked back as he rounded a corner and yelled, "Kill him!" as he continued to flee. "Next time I will defeat you Jedi!" Grievous called again as the sounds of spinning sabers ended in arcing cracks and the droids blaster fire fell silent.
As Qui-Gon rounded the corner he saw only empty corridor ahead and knew that he would not easily or quickly catch the fleeing cyborg. If he felt frustration at his foes escape it wasn't apparent on his face as he gazed down the corridor looking beyond it. "Yes the next time we meet you just might do that." He said to the empty air and then turned and replacing his saber on his belt he retrieved the two Lightsabers left behind by Grievous when he fled. They lay beside the smoking ruins of the four super battle droids where Qui-Gon had let them fall after hurling them in spinning arcs with the Force to eliminate the droids from a distance. Looking at the Lightsabers of fellow Jedi slain by Grievous Qui-Gon said solemnly, "Never again will you be used to attack fellow Jedi. Your masters may rest easy in the Force now that you have been retrieved." Placing the sabers on his belt Qui-Gon shook his head a little as he brought himself back to the here and now and started making his way back to Anakin and Palpatine.
In the presentation room Anakin and Ventress slowly circled in the middle of the room. Anakin's azure blade humming in counterpoint to the snarling sounds of Ventress's twin crimson blades.
"So youngling, we meet again." Ventress said softly, the sneer in her voice matching the one on her face.
"So it would appear." Anakin replied calmly. "Tell me, what did the Separatists hope to gain by abducting the Chancellor?"
"Can you not think of several reasons for it Pup?" Ventress demanded, her sneer deepening.
"Actually I can think of several, but I was interested in hearing yours." Anakin said while Palpatine looked on not saying a word.
"The knowledge we shall rip from him after we have broken him will grant us a swift victory and end this war!" Ventress exclaimed.
"Really?" Anakin burst out in obvious disbelief. "I didn't think you were that stupid!"
"How dare you!" Ventress raged! "You can't be naïve enough to believe that he wouldn't break now that we have him."
"Oh he probably would. Very few beings won't break when worked over by a competent interrogator long enough. But there are two points against you in this case."
"Such as what?" Ventress demanded.
"One, the Republic is aware of his capture. Steps are already being taken to render any information you might wring out of him not only useless but damaging to you if you try to use it. Two, you won't even get the chance to wring anything from him now, useless or not. He will be leaving with us."
"Ha! Foolish Boy! You and your Master have been lucky to survive our past meetings, but you will not be that lucky this time. And after the two of you are dead I will take the time to track down those you care for and see how long I can make them scream! Oh yes we know about your Mother on Tatooine and that little bit of Senatorial fluff you've been dallying with."
"Interesting, but not at interesting as your attempt at rewriting history. We weren't lucky to survive, Qui-Gon and I have foiled your little schemes on system after system, and forced you to flee each and every time. In fact it was you who were lucky to survive our meeting on that moon of Yavin IV. If that cliff hadn't crumbled under you right then you wouldn't be here now."
"Yes! I admit you were strong that day! You let your hatred flow and used it most effectively. But I have learned much since that day and I sense that you… you have lost the strength that let you prevail that day."
"Trust a Sith to view that hatred as a strength. In reality I defeated you that day despite my anger hindering me, not because of it. I too have learned much since that day. I am far more now than my hatred could have ever made me."
"Ignorant Pup! Without your hate you haven't a chance against me! You will die just as your Master is dying at the hands of General Grievous!"
"I wouldn't count Qui-Gon Jinn out until you put his dead body at my feet. Even then I'd be willing to bet he'd find a way to prevail. As for you and I, you will have to kill me to prevent me from leaving with the Chancellor. So show me what you have learned and we will see if it is enough to do the job."
"You will regret saying that in the moments before you die!" Ventress shut down one saber and put it on her belt. Then dramatically raising that hand and pointing it at Anakin she made an obvious effort and unleashed a blast of Force lightning at the young Jedi Knight.
Anakin easily caught the lightning on his saber until it ended. "Lightning? Really? Is that all?" he asked an obviously stunned Ventress. "I was hoping for something original." Anakin said in an offhand manner. Ventress snarled as she put up her other saber and channeling all her rage sent forth another blast with both hands, twice as strong as the first! Ambient electricity in the air made Anakin's hair stand on end but this blast, caught on Anakin's blade as well, had no other affect. Anakin looked down at his saber hilt and smiled. "Thanks for the recharge! I didn't have time to put a fresh power pack in before we got here and it was running a little low."
Ventress gaped at Anakin and broke off her attack looking stunned. "Wha…?"
"Oh come on now Ventress. Dark Jedi and Sith are always throwing Force lightning at us. Regardless of how it's generated it's still electricity. Why shouldn't I, heh, get a charge out of it?"
With a scream of rage Ventress launched a fierce telekinetic attack at Anakin which he nimbly avoided. Time after time Ventress hurled Force energy at Anakin who didn't even bother trying to block or redirect the blows. He simply avoided them while insuring that only interior bulkheads were behind him to be pummeled and warped out of shape by the heavy blows he was evading. Ventress's frustrated rage growing ever greater, she spread both hands wide and unleashed not a bolt of telekinetic Force energy but a wide wave at her opponent, leaving him no way to evade it. Anakin didn't even try. Instead he lashed out with a telekinetic Force blow of his own. His narrow focused attack neatly bisected Ventress's wave and continued forward to hit Ventress and send her flying to land heavily on her back and skid helplessly across the deck while her attack passed harmlessly to either side of Anakin.
Anakin stood calmly facing Ventress as she used the last of her momentum to flip up to her feet her fury now blazing from her eyes! Reaching out with the Force Ventress picked up the still charged weapons and pieces of the assassin droids and sent them in a deadly hail of debris toward Anakin!
"Ah right on time." Anakin said nonchalantly and began a graceful dance of avoidance; sidestepping, leaping over, or ducking under pieces of assassin droid while gently diverting the weapons away from him with his saber.
"What do you mean right on time?" Ventress raged!
"I mean that in every encounter we have on file for you unless a particular situation prevented it you followed the same fight progression you have with me today. Except the lightning! That was new for you. The same progression Dooku used when he lost to Qui-Gon. Unless you have picked up something new recently, like Dooku, you will next fall back on saber work to try and finish this. Do you have something new? I hope so because this is boring me." Anakin said calmly as he batted away another incoming weapon. This time though he grabbed it with the Force and ripped it from Ventress's control and hurled it at her head! Ventress jerked her head aside so startled by the sudden attack that she lost control of half the objects she was levitating and they clattered to the deck. Letting the rest fall noisily as well she pulled her sabers from her belt, and with a twisting click, attached them together end to end.
"I don't need tricks to kill you! My sabers will do just fine!" Ventress snarled as she moved in to attack, igniting the blades of her now double bladed saber. Anakin met her head on and with his saber in both hands matched her move for move. The calm collected expression on Anakin's face only served to infuriate Ventress even more than she already was. Finally frustrated beyond control at her inability to best this foe Ventress unconnected her hilts and resumed dual wielding her sabers with increasingly out of control attacks.
Adjusting to her change in fighting style Anakin shifted to a more defensive style and concentrated on avoiding her attacks or deflecting them minutely rather than meeting them head on and blocking them. Allowing the battle to bring them back to the general area of the Chancellor Anakin continued to slowly yield ground while avoiding Ventress's blows. With every missed strike Ventress's control slipped even farther as her rage boiled over. Finally undone and with all control fled, Ventress brought both sabers up over her head and, virtually frothing at the mouth with her face contorted in rage, screamed out her fury and unleashed a vast overhand double blow. Anakin again caught Ventress by surprise and stepped into the blow and with a finely controlled slash destroyed Ventress's descending weapons! Continuing his move Anakin spun and swept the feet of the overbalanced Ventress and sent her smashing face first into the deck where she lay stunned.
"Well done Anakin! Very well done indeed!" Chancellor Palpatine cried out. "Quickly now, finish her before she can recover!" the Chancellor ordered.
"She's beaten and weaponless there is no need to kill her." Anakin replied calmly. Still showing the effects of her abrupt inspection of the deck plating Ventress roused a bit at this.
"Kill me! Why would…" she was interrupted by Chancellor Palpatine.
"Anakin, she's escaped capture before and she has promised to kill your family. She's too dangerous to live." Palpatine reasoned. Anakin paused a moment at the reminder of Ventress's promise to torture and kill those he loved. A brief vision of his Mother and Padme drifted in his minds eye, both looking at him with confidence and love and his resolve stiffened.
"No Chancellor, I will not kill a helpless person." he said calmly.
"How dare you!" Ventress screamed and suddenly everything inside of her boiled over! All her frustration at not being made a full Sith, her humiliation and rage at being defeated again by Anakin, and her fury at Chancellor Palpatine's demands to have her killed all coalesced in the center of her being. Growing brighter and hotter as it focused in her core it resembled a star collapsing in on itself. Then like that same star going supernova it reached an instant where its inward rush halted and then exploded outward with devastating force!
The shockwave of Force energy blasted out from her in all directions leaving a deep impact crater where she had lain and knocking Anakin back ten meters to land heavily. More distant from Chancellor Palpatine the shockwave, when it reached him, was still strong enough to slam his head back against the throne like chair he had been secured in, momentarily stunning him.
"You can't just get rid of me like that!" Ventress screamed at Palpatine. Reaching a hand out she summoned one of the assassin droid weapons to hand and using the Force leapt high in the air toward the chancellor. Weapon held high overhead to split the skull of the object of her rage!
Anakin, groggy from his hard landing, looked up in time to see Ventress reach the apex of her arc and begin her deadly descent. With no time left to refocus his control of his Force abilities, he took the only course of action available to him that would save the Chancellor. Igniting his saber and locking it on he hurled it, using what little Force control he had left to speed its flight. Ventress her rage and fury focused on Palpatine never heard the Lightsaber snap to life nor sensed its lethal approach until there was an instant of searing pain as the blazing azure blade passed through her neck and upraised arms. The pieces of Assajj Ventress collapsed on the deck at Palpatine's feet. The furious light in her eyes quickly dimmed as they filmed over in death but the look of sheer rage remained frozen on her features.
Qui-Gon, having stepped into the presentation room's entrance just in time to witness the conclusion of the conflict, moved quickly to Anakin's side and helped him regain his feet. "Well on that note I think its time to depart don't you?" he asked.
Before Anakin could reply alarm klaxons screamed to life accompanied by warning strobe lights. Explosive retorts could both be heard and felt as the Jedi hurried over to release the restraints on the Chancellor. As they approached the enourmous transparisteel viewport they could see escape pods being ejected up and down the length of the Separatist battleship. Moving quickly to release Palpatine's restraints Anakin said, "It does appear that we have over stayed our welcome. Self destruct you think?"
"It's most likely." Qui-Gon replied.
"Do you have an escape route ready?" Palpatine asked as he stood up rubbing his wrists.
"Let's check on that." Anakin replied and pulled his comm link from his belt, "R2 do you copy?" An affirmative series of beeps and whistles was the reply. "How's the ship? Still able to launch?" Another affirmative answer from the astromech pealed from the comm link. "Excellent! Have you sliced far enough into the ships systems to cancel this self destruct!" A mournful whistle was R2's only reply. "Understood. Can you free up a lift for us?" R2's answer was determinedly positive this time. "Good! Do it." Anakin ordered. Then as the sounds of approaching destroyer droids could be heard growing louder he added, "And see if you can divert the droids from our path. I don't think we have time left to play with them." R2s answering blat both acknowledged the command and confirmed their lack of time. With grim looks at each other the three men rushed from the room.
As they entered the hallway R2's efforts on their behalf were evident as destroyer droids were rolling away from them in both directions and the chime on the nearest lift rang as the lift door opened inviting them inside. Their ride down to the hanger deck was swift and uneventful. The corridor was empty as they stepped off the lift but that reprieve was short lived as seconds later, far down the corridor four assassin droids stepped into view and started running their way.
"Run!" Qui-Gon said and the three did so making for the hanger as fast as they could. Qui-Gon noticed in passing the head of one of the command type droids mounted on a polearm weapon, of the type used by the assassin droids, planted in the deck just outside the hanger entrance. Their progress slowed inside the hanger as they had to traverse over and around the heaps of destroyed droids littering the hanger floor.
"Looks like R2s been busy..." Anakin started to say but never finished his comment as the group noticed two assassin droids running in their direction from the ship just as the the four from the corridor entered the hanger still in pursuit! The Jedi moved in front of the Chancellor and brought their sabers to life with that familiar snap hiss. They accelerated toward the droids between them and the Shadow Wraith. Just out of weapon reach, however, the two assassin droids leaped high in the air over the three men and crashed into the four pursuing droids that had almost caught up with their prey.
"Chancellor get aboard!" Qui-Gon barked out as he and Anakin turned back toward the robotic melee behind them. Four droids were still on the ground struggling with each other but the outer two were up and advancing again as Qui-Gon and Anakin put them down again permanently. Anakin started to turn toward the four remaining struggling droids when Qui-Gon stopped him. "Leave them. Let's get aboard while we can."
"What's going on with them?" Anakin asked bewildered by the droids actions.
"I don't know. But I don't want to be on this ship trying to figure it out when it explodes." Qui-Gon answered.
"There is that to consider." Anakin said as the two Jedi turned and made their way to their ship. Unoticed behind them two of the droids suddenly spasmed and went limp. The two remaining active droids stood up and, hoisting their intact but inactive bretheren, they started moving toward the Shadow Wraith as well.
Finally aboard Anakin called out, "R2? How are we doin?" A lengthy reply echoed down the Shadow Wraith's passages. "What's that R2? I didn't quite get that!" Anakin asked for once not quiet understanding the astromech's beeps and whistles. R2 again warbled out his message but with no better results. Frustrated Anakin flipped a computer terminal on and yelled out, "One more time for the helpless biologicals down here." R2s now equally frustrated message echoed out to be translated on the terminal screen when Qui-Gon heard a noise on the ramp behind them.
"Look out!" Qui-Gon yelled as he smoothly drew his saber and ignited it ready to destroy the assassin droids that were slowly moving up the ramp carrying their inert bretherin. Just before Qui-Gon made his first swing Anakin's hand snagged Qui-Gon's wrist stopping his blow.
"R2 was trying to tell us not to kill them. Apparently they're on our side now." Anakin hurridly explained.
"That does it!" Qui-Gon said pulling his hand from Anakin's grasp and shutting down his saber. "If we live through this we're getting a vocabulator put in that droid. Now let's get out of here!" As the Jedi moved forward the two mobile assassin droids opened input jacks on the inert droids and using cables, stored beneath the computer terminal Anakin had used, they plugged them into the ship's systems.
In the pilot's cabin Anakin threw himself behind the controls and scanned their situation. "The ship is intact except for the cloak which is still down and the exterior hanger door is still shut. R2 can you open it?" R2's response started out sounding positive but quickly turned negative. A quick glance at a translation monitor confirmed Anakin's interpretation. "R2 says he can get the hanger door open but not before the self destruct timer runs out!" Anakin announced. "We're going to have to blast our way out!"
"Understood. Chancellor, strap in tight. I'm afraid our ride is about to get bumpy." Qui-Gon said as he followed his own advice and strapped into the co-pilots seat. Palpatine, heeding the warning, sat in the ops chair behind the other two and strapped in although no signs of worry or anxiety showed even once on his face.
Anakin floated the ship on its repulsors lifts, away from the external bay door and started blasting holes in it with the Shadow Wraith's forward cannons. Air started venting out the holes but Anakin ignored that and kept weakening either end of the door until he saw the door bulge outward a bit in the middle as it struggled to keep the remaining air pressure where it belonged. Seeing this Anakin immediately launched a concussion missile at the center of the door. The concussive force of the missile blasted the oval shaped section weakened by Anakin's shots out into space. The explosive decompression that resulted blew the section clear leaving an open path for escape to space.
Anakin immediately slammed the throttle forward and the Shadow Wraith leapt forward out of the Separatist command ship amid a cloud of droid parts the decompression had picked up and flung out with them. They had barely reached a safe distance when the Dragon's Wrath, venting atmosphere out its ruptured side, finally finished its countdown and vaporized itself in spectacular fashion! The shockwave tumbled the Shadow Wraith but their shields held and Anakin quickly managed to right them and turn toward Coruscant. That's when they saw their next hurdle.
"Sith spawn!" Anakin spit out and immediately threw the Shadow Wraith into a violent series of rolls, spins, and other evasive maneuvers that hadn't even been named yet. All to avoid the devastating barrage of fire coming from all the remaining Separatist ships which had placed themselves in between the Shadow Wraith and the safety of Coruscant. Ignoring the Republic ships still attacking them with abandon every Separatist capital ship and fighter capable of even minimal function left in system had only one goal, namely the destruction of the Shadow Wraith.
Sinking farther into the Force than he ever had before Anakin was no longer consciously flying the ship. His body was reacting to promptings and urgings felt in the Force long before his active mind could have ever processed the information, decided on a course of action, and sent the signals for said action to his body. Qui-Gon too was deeply focused on the Force. He had diverted all weapon power, except one cannon, as well as most of the life support to the engines and shields. Deep in the Living Force Qui-Gon had no scanner or targeting system active yet whenever his finger would twitch on the trigger the one active cannon would reach out its finger of energy and one of the multitude of fighters harrying them would recieve the touch of that finger and explode, often taking one or two other fighters with it.
Through it all Palpatine sat still and silent as he watched the two Jedi before him do the impossible and despite the situation merged into a battle meld and live when they should have been destroyed in seconds. Even the astromech was deeply involved in some task, it made not a sound but its data jack in the ships terminal was whirling at incredible speeds. Palpatine just sat there and watched, apparently unconcerned in the least, as if he already knew the outcome and was just enjoying the show.
It wasn't enough. Even with a full battle meld between the two Jedi fully subsumed in the Living Force the cannon fire around them slowly came closer and closer to finishing them as the Separatist ships gradually closed in around them. The Republic ships were doing everything they could to save them and the Separatist ships were taking a terrible pounding but it became evident as the seconds ticked by that there could be only one end to this drama.
Suddenly the Shadow Wraith's one active cannon stopped firing in mid blast and its engines dropped, with no warning, to half thrust! The Separatist ships slowly closing in on their quarry were unprepared for the sudden change in velocity and now overshot their target! Just as they shifted their weapons back to the Shadow Wraith the emperilled ship vanished from sight and scanners! Quickly changing to saturation firing the Separatist ships threw fire out in a slowly widening area trying to score a lucky hit on the now cloaked ship. Once it became apparent that the Shadow Wraith had successfully eluded them the Separatist ships began trying to withdraw from the battle and flee the system. However all the pounding they had taken while focused on the Shadow Wraith was now taking its toll. Ship after ship lost power and fell behind as the remaining vessels closed ranks protecting the lead ship with their own hulls as it drew further and further away. Just as the last ship lost power and drifted dead in space no longer able to block for the lead vessel, that ship reached the point far enough from Coruscant's gravity well where it was able to jump to light speed and escape.
Aboard the Shadow Wraith Anakin and Qui-Gon slowly surfaced from their submersion in their latest battle meld and the Living Force while R2 chirped happily to itself. The seconds after the cloak had reactivated had seen them all come closer to death than ever that day. The remaining speed and maneuverability after the cloak had been restored had barely been enough to avoid the Separatist saturation firing and wouldn't have been if the two Jedi hadn't been melded with each other and submerged so deeply in the Living Force. Now drifting free of the battle the humans aboard took a moment to breath a sigh of relief.
"R2, I assume we have you to thank for the repaired cloak?" Anakin asked. R2 chirped an affirmative. "How did you manage to repair the physical damage to that system? You were here in the cockpit helping regulate shield energy usage the entire time?" a bewildered Anakin asked the astromech droid. R2's lengthy reply translated on a monitor near Anakin.
"Probability was high that it would be required to escape from the enemy fleet. Unable to fullfill my other duties and repair it myself while on the Dragon's Wrath I recruited more hands as they became available. Assassin droids have very good hands for repair once they have been properly reprogrammed." R2's message translated.
"R2 you just earned yourself an upgrade of your choice in addition to the vocabulator Qui-Gon has said you are to receive if we lived through this. Thank You my friend." Anakin said to the droid.
"I'll let you know." was R2's only translated response as it pulled up a list of astromech upgrades on a monitor near it and started sifting through available options like a child with a toy catalog.
Laughing Anakin set a course for the capital sector of Coruscant and started their descent. Once safely behind Republic lines he uncloaked the Shadow Wraith and headed for the high security landing platforms in the Senate district. Granted clearance to land the Shadow Wraith was met by a large number of elite guards, a delegation of some of the more prominent Senators, and Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu. The two Jedi Masters were in the lead as Chancellor Palpatine made his way down the boarding ramp.
"Chancellor Palpatine, wonderful it is having you safely returned." Yoda said in greeting.
"Indeed, I owe my life to these two valiant Jedi Masters!" Palpatine said in thankful tones.
"I beg your pardon Chancellor," Anakin said from behind him. "I have not attained the rank of Master yet."
"No? Well from what I saw today you should be!" Palpatine exclaimed. "This brave young man single handedly defeated Assajj Ventress and put an end to her evil for good, stopping her attempt to kill me! And then the way he flew when we escaped from the Separatist ship! I tell you your doing this man an injustice by not making him a Master here and now!" Palpatine practically demanded.
"Determine when and if young Skywalker is ready for the rank of Master we will!" Master Yoda said in a sharp tone that was perhaps sharper than he intended. His statement meant to affirm the council's authority in the matter came across sounding as if he doubted Anakin would ever be judged ready for that step. Qui-Gon watched as the unintentional barb slid home and Anakin tensed up. He was about to step in when he sensed the tension flow out from Anakin and disapate.
"Thank you Chancellor I deeply appreciate your praise but the Masters are right. Strong in the Force I may be but there is much I still have to learn. Besides, I haven't even trained a Padawan yet and I'm far from ready for that task yet. Elevating a Knight to Master before they have done that is practically unheard of." Anakin said and Qui-Gon wasn't sure what puzzeled him more, the brief look of frustration on Palpatine's face or the equally brief look of rage that crossed Windu's. A quick glance at Yoda revealed a hidden spark of amusement in his eyes and in the tilt of his ears. Suddenly Qui-Gon was positive the diminuative Master's words had been fully intended to test reactions. Furthermore Qui-Gon sensed that Anakin's hadn't been the reaction most interesting to Yoda.
Deep are the thoughts of a being that old, Qui-Gon thought to himself. Yoda's suddend knowing glance at him confirmed for Qui-Gon the suspicion that his reactions had been tested as well. He wondered how he had fared in the small Masters opinion. Further conversation on the topic was not to be as the grouping of Senators encircled the Chancellor, who did a double take at Senator Amidala in their midst, before they started herding him and the Jedi Council Members back toward the Senate building. Chancellor Palpatine and Master Windu were talking about plans to continue the search for General Grievous who had been aboard the one Separatist ship that had escaped.
As the Senators had approached Anakin had seen Padme with them and he marvelled at her beauty all over again. He reached for her through their link but found her closed to him. Bewildered he caught her eye and the look she gave him was the same loving one she always reserved for him but she remained closed to him as the Senators gathered up the Chancellor.
"As the Hero of the day its only fair that you...What's wrong Anakin?" Qui-Gon dropped their usual banter about who would report to the Senate for them when he sensed the concern radiating from him.
"Somethings wrong with Padme." Anakin answered. "She looks and acts fine but she's keeping herself closed to me."
"Ok go with her. She's deliberately lagging behind the group by the looks of it. Catch up with her and find out what's wrong. I'll finish shutting down the ship and make our report."
"Thank You!" Anakin said gratefully and hurried after Padme. When she saw that he was following she broke from the group and headed down a side passage with Anakin close on her heels.
And thus I'm stuck with the debriefing Qui-Gon thought to himself. Apparently no good deed goes unpunished after all he concluded as he turned back to the Shadow Wraith to finish shut down procedures.
In a quiet alcove Anakin finally caught up with Padme. Whatever was keeping her mind closed to him wasn't apparent as she whirled and threw herself in his arms kissing him desperately.
"By the Force I was afraid for you this time!" she said when they finally broke their fierce kiss.
"I'm ok, thanks to you for allowing R2 to go with us. But something's wrong. You're closed to me and it has to be deliberate. What's going on?" Anakin said looking Padme in the eyes as his own filled with concern.
"Anakin...we need to talk..." Padme said.
To be continued. Next Chapter Celebration
