Clash of Fire and Ice

The Republic cruiser arrived in orbit of Kamino as the fighting between the Banking Clan and Trade Federation ships continued. On the planet's surface, most natives had fled into their underwater sanctuaries. Although the republic had no formal military, it kept old craft and weapons ready just in case of a crisis.

From the old cruiser, a team of Jedi rode in a gunship down through Kamino's stormy clouds. Aboard the Gunship, Master Yoda activated the radio channel, sending a transmission to Nute Gunray's ship. The viceroy himself answered, his hologram flickering in the rain.

"Master Jedi!" he exclaimed, fruitlessly feigning ignorance, "What a lovely surprise."

"Gone on long enough, this pointless conflict had," said the aged Yoda sternly, "recall your droids you will, and surrender to Jedi custody."

"This battle is out of my control!" Gunray shouted desperately via hologram, "Hego Damask has attacked me unprovoked and has hacked into my Droid Control Ship! It's not my fault!"

Yoda glared at the transparent image, disgusted with Nute's blubbering. He waved his hand at the hologram, using the Force to sway the neimodian's mind. "You will surrender to the Jedi immediately and recall your forces."

Gunray looked confused. "I will surrender to the Jedi immediately and recall my forces." His hologram fizzled out.

The drop ship hovered over the the landing platform where a green light was slicing through IG assassin droids that attacked the tall figure below.

"Dooku's right there!" pointed Master Omo Bourie. The gunship, piloted by Jedi knight Eeth Koth, descended towards Dooku as the hatch opened. Dooku turned towards his rescuers as he kept on fighting the droids.

"Master Yoda!" he exclaimed, "your timing was perfect. The Magister has kidnapped Sheev!"

Yoda hung out of the gunship's hatch and beckoned Dooku towards the vehicle with his tiny green hand.

"Come quickly you must," he shouted in his raspy voice, "long gone they could be now."

Dooku Force leaped onto the gunship and climbed aboard. Koth flew the gunship back up into the rain leaving the droids far behind.

By the time the gunship had landed back in the hangar of the massive republic cruiser, Nute Gunray's shuttle had docked as well.

Dooku, Yoda and the rescue party exited the gunship right away. Among the Jedi Yoda had brought were Masters Omo Bourie, Thame Cerulian, Oppo Rancisis, Yaddle, Even Piell, Knights Eeth Koth, Jocasta Nu, Tholme, and Yareal Poof, and Padawans Adi Gallia, Shaak Ti, Plo Koon, and Kit Fisto.

Outside Gunray's shuttle, he and aide Rune Hakko were in bindercuffs as Qui Gon Jinn and Ki Adi Mundi, a two-brained Jedi knight the same age as Qui Gon, led them towards the rescue party.

"I'm sure the senate would like to hear your side of the story," Qui Gon was saying. He turned to the large group and said, "My old master, I'm glad to see you are all right." The two had not had much contact over the years, but Qui Gon and Dooku remained cordial upon occasional conversations.

"It's good to see you, Qui Gon," Dooku responded in kind.

"Waste no time we must," Yoda declared, banging his wooden staff on the deck, "Dooku, a close bond you have with young Palpatine. Sense his location can you?" He didn't need to say what everyone else knew. Jedi that formed particularly close bonds were able to connect via the Force from long distances, and many Jedi had strong connections that way. Sheev was not close to anyone at the Temple due to his behavior and personality, and only Dooku could talk to him about anything other than strict business.

Dooku closed his eyes, reaching out to his student of five years. He sensed Sheev's fear, but also his hate. The boy was in the middle of a fit of arrogance, believing he could do what no Jedi had done. Dooku sympathized with his pupil's ambitions for greater power, but he knew that Sheev's recklessness could be troublesome.

Before he could decipher Sheev's location, the teenage Tholothian girl Adi Gallia spoke up. "He's on Mygeeto," she said, sounding surprisingly anxious, "Sheev is on Mygeeto." Her master Even Piell patted her shoulder.

Dooku wondered how this girl had sensed where his Padawan was, especially before he had. Sheev's peers had reached out to him before, but he wasn't aware of young Palpatine having any friends. At the beginning, he'd wished that he could get closer to his fellow Padawans, but as time went on, Sheev became comfortable with his isolated status, focusing more and more on power. At least that was what Dooku had observed.

"Then hurry we must," Yoda declared, "in grave danger the boy is."

In the tundra of Mygeeto, Sheev backed up with his saber moving in all directions as Plagueis advanced.

Red blade clashed against blue, and Palpatine was barely holding his own. He felt the assertion of the experienced Sith Lord's every blow and it was exhausting him. I just want to get out of here, he thought. He was actually afraid of the Sith. There must be at least one more on this planet, he realized.

As Sheev's blue lightsaber once again clashed with Darth Plagueis' red one, the Muun pushed theJedi blade downward with his own. As Palpatine struggled with all his might to push back the Sith lightsaber, Plagueis suddenly moved it upward, slashing across Sheev's stomachs. Sheev shouted as the burn scorched his Jedi robe and he fell down. He scooted backwards on the crystal ground away from Plagueis, who loomed over him ominously.

"Now your skills will truly be put to the test," the Muun said. He stretched out his hand not holding his lightsaber and sent a jet of dark side lightning at Sheev. Sheev scrambled away from it, as he held out his own hand. He'd studied the power of deflecting Force lightning without a lightsaber, but no living Jedi except for Yoda could do so. Sheev had to try though, there was no way his lightsaber could hold out against that.

Tapping into his deepest potential, Sheev absorbed the lightning into his own palm as he hopped to his feet. The saber still in his hand, he sent the original torrent of lightning back at Plagueis, who caught it on his red blade.

The Sith gaped at him in shock. "How in the galaxy..." Hardly any Jedi ever could have been able to do that, let alone a Padawan. That kid had really had to have tapped into his darkest feelings in order to redirect the lightning so skillfully.

Suddenly, Sheev felt himself lifting upwards, the weight leaving his body. He dropped his activated lightsaber on the cold ground and it sent sparks flying on all directions. He realized that Plagueis had also bee lifted into the air telekinetically. Looking over to the nearby caverns Sheev saw that a hooded figure approached, a lightsaber hilt in its hand. The figure was using the force to restrain both Sheev and Plagueis.

As the creature removed it's hood, Sheev made out an aging Bith, presumably Plagueis' fellow Sith. The Bith released Plagueis while continuing to hold up Sheev.

"Lord Plagueis," said the Bith wih exasperation, "Why have you brought the Jedi boy with you?"

"Forgive me Master," replied Plagueis, kneeling in the elder Sith's direction, "I sensed that the dark side was strong in this boy and that he'd be an asset to us."

The Sith Master seemed to consider this. If only I could take them both out right here, Sheev thought, everyone would learn that their place was below me.

"You of course realize," the Bith explained to his apprentice Plagueis, "that you have compromised our secrecy by possibly luring his fellow Jedi right to us. We have to kill him now, and we must leave immediately." The Bith reached for Palpatine's blue lightsaber and it flew into his hand. Plagueis stood up and said, "Lord Tenebrous, what if we took this human with us? Forced him to learn the dark side and raise him as an assassin? He'd be able to bring down the Republic from within, like the clone army we planned."

"The Banking Clan is done for," Lord Tenebrous replied angrily, "because of the Jedi's involvement, we have to start all over again! Why are you so attached to this boy? Perhaps you hope to kill me and take him as your own Apprentice?"

Sheev still dangled in the air, waiting for the right moment to break free. He stared at the blue saber in Tenebrous' hand, wondering if he could summon it back. He decided not to risk it as long as Tenebrous was distracted.

"Of course not master," replied Plagueis, his hand reaching for his still activated lightsaber nonetheless, "I merely thought it would be wise to expand our numbers, to better match against the Jedi.

"You know as well as I do the only reality of the Sith," said Darth Tenebrous, holding up Sheev's blue lightsaber. At the same time, he activated his own. Like Plagueis, Tenebrous' plasma blade was as red as the fires of hell. "There can only be two, a master and an Apprentice. And it seems as if you think you are the master now.

Plagueis leapt at his Master without warning, his lightsaber moving in a frenzy. Tenebrous defended with both blue and red blades, swinging both at his renegade Apprentice. Sheev felt himself flyin backwards, landing some fifty feet away with a thud on the crystal surface. Both Sith had forgotten him and were locked in the age-old battle for supremacy. Sheev cautiously stepped closer to the dueling Dark Lords, planning his strategy in his head. Even if he managed to recover his saber and kill both of them, he wasn't sure if he could contact the Jedi from his location. He hoped he'd be able to take out the assassin droids easily.

Meanwhile, Plagueis and Tenebrous continued their duel on the world of Mygeeto, the inevitable becoming a reality.