Blaze: finally, a new chapter
Darth: It's about time
Blaze: (dryly) thanks
Darth: you're weird
Blaze: yup, you are too
Darth: yup
Blaze: (sighs) here is the awaited chapter 13 and I hope that you like it and a huge thank you to everyone who helped me get 140 reviews for this story.
Chapter 13
Count Dooku stared in stunned shock at the ruined control room as he dragged himself out from under plasteel girders and chunks of ferrocrete. He came shakily to his feet and couldn't help but if Skywalker's voiced rage had actually called the ceiling down.
Dooku knew that if he had not leapt forcefully at the last moment, he might have been buried, as the three Jedi were, somewhere below, in the expanse of rubble that covered the archive room. He was certain that they had survived but if nothing else they were trapped, which had been the intent from the start.
But Skywalker…Assuming that he had grown powerful enough to have collapsed the dome, the end result was simply further evidence that he would someday undo himself.
That is if the younger Skywalker did not change that.
Of course, Dooku understood that he could just be thinking that because admitting to any alternative explanation meant accepting that Skywalker was potentially a greater threat to the Sith than anyone realized.
Instantly, it cheered him to observe that Skywalker and Kenobi had finally learned to fight together and even the coming of Skywalker's son hadn't changed that simultaneous fighting skills that occurred between the two of them. Dooku knew that the three of them had become a very powerful trio, even in the short time that the young Skywalker has been there. Kenobi making full use of his inherent discretion to balance young Skywalker's inattentive rowdiness and even the younger Skywalker's recklessness that Dooku figured he got from his father.
What if the entire roof should come crashing down? He wondered silently as he dusted himself off and raced to exit the ruined facility. As he ran, he found several questions coming to his mind. What if Grievous was outwitted and destroyed at Coruscant? Sidious, apprehended and defeated? What if the Jedi should triumph, after all?
What would become of his dream of a galaxy brought under eminent stewardship?
Sighing and thinking about his meeting with Yoda on Vjun where the little green dwarf had told him that he would be welcomed back at the Jedi Temple. He made his way outside where Tythe's yellow-gray sky covered the surface above his head. His sloop was waiting and standing alongside it was the ship's pilot droid.
"A recorded message," the droid announced. "From General Grievous."
"Play it!" Dooku said as he hurried up the sloop's aft boarding ramp and into the instrument-filled main hold. A paused holoimage of the cyborg floated in blue light.
"Lord Tyranus," Grievous said, in motion suddenly and genuflecting. "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine will soon be ours."
Dooku exhaled in satisfaction. "And just in time," he muttered. As if recalled to life, he positioned himself on the transmission grid and sent a simple return message: "General, I will join you shortly."
In the darkness, buried alive, Anakin gently stroked his son's hair as he held Luke's body in his arms. The rubble that covered them made it almost impossible to make out anything above them. Luke was still conscious, which was a relief to Anakin and he smiled at his son though he couldn't help but feel fear surge through him.
Luke gazed up at him with a slight look of fear in his eyes. Anakin frowned, unsure as to why there was fear in his eyes. "What is it, Son?" he whispered.
"You used your anger," Luke whispered, the pain was evident in his voice.
Anakin sighed. "I'm sorry, Son," he said softly. "But I could not control it. I just could not bear to see you injured."
Luke smiled faintly.
Obi-Wan stirred and coughed behind him. "You're getting awfully good at destroying things," he said. "On Vjun, you needed a grenade to do this much damage."
Anakin glanced over toward Obi-Wan. "I told you I was becoming more powerful."
"Then do us all a favor by getting out from under all this," Obi-Wan said.
"Good idea," Luke murmured.
"How's Luke?" Obi-Wan called as he and Anakin worked together using the Force, their hands and backs to extricate themselves. Both of them stood up and stared at each other, dusted white head to toe from the debris.
"He's conscious," Anakin replied kneeling down and gently lifting Luke into his arms. Anakin couldn't help but chuckle when he saw a mortified look in his son's eyes.
"Go ahead," Anakin said looking at Obi-Wan. "If you don't say it, I will."
"If you insist," Obi-Wan snorted dust from his nose. "Almost makes me nostalgic for Naos Three."
"Once more, with feeling."
"Some other time. Dooku, first."
Scampering over the remains of the dome, droid parts, buried pieces of furniture, overturned shelves of holodocuments, having to travel slow to avoid making the wound in his son's shoulder worsen, they raced for the landing platform, arriving in time to see Dooku's sloop, one among dozens of Separatist vessels, streaking for space.
"Coward," Luke muttered gazing after Dooku's fleeing sloop.
"He flees," Obi-Wan agreed.
Anakin gazed after the sloop before shaking his head as he looked back at Obi-Wan and Luke. "That's not the reason, Master. We've been tricked. Tythe was never the target. We were."
"But why?" Luke protested.
Anakin found that he did not have an answer for that.
Back on Coruscant, Grievous made his way toward Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. His three surviving elites were faring well against five Red Guards. With time counting down, he waded into the thick of the action. Sensing him, one guard feinted a rotation to the left, then pivoted to the right with his force pike raised at face level. A move Grievious could appreciate, although he was no longer in the space through which the weapon sliced. Using two blades, he nipped the guard's cowled head from his torso. The next he speared from behind in both kidneys. Opening the backs of another's thighs, he moved on, disemboweling the fourth.
The last guard was already dead by the time he reached him.
With a gesture, Grievous instructed his elite to secure the bunker's hexagonal door. Then, deactivating his lightsabers, he turned to Palpatine.
"Now, Chancellor," he announced, "you're coming with us."
Palpatine neither cowered nor protested. He merely said: You will be a true loss to the forces you represent."
Grievous started in surprise. Was this praise? He wondered silently.
"Four Jedi Knights, all these soldiers and guards," Palpatine sent on, gesturing broadly. "Why not wait until Shaak TI and Stass Allie arrive." He cocked his head to one side. "I think I hear them coming. They are Masters, after all."
Grievous didn't respond immediately. Was Palpatine trying to trick him? "I might at any other time," he said finally after a moment of silence. "But a ship awaits us that will take you from Coruscant-and from your cherished Republic as well."
Palpatine mocked him with a sneer. "Do you actually believe that this plan will succeed."
Grievous returned the look. "You're more defiant than I was led to believe, Chancellor. But, yes, the plan will succeed-and to your deficit. I would gladly kill you now but for my orders."
"So you take your orders," Palpatine said, moving with deliberate lethargy. "Which of us, then, is the lesser?" Before Grievous could reply, he added: "My death won't end this war, General."
Grievous had wondered about that. Understandably. Lord Sidious had his plan but did he actually believe that Palpatine's death would prompt the Jedi to lay down their lightsabers? Thrown into turmoil by the Chancellor's death, could the Senate order the Jedi to stand down? After years of warfare, would the Republic suddenly capitulate?
The sound of rapid footfalls roused him and he gestured to the bunker's rear door. "Move," he told Palpatine.
The MagnaGuards stepped forward to make certain that Palpatine obeyed.
Grievous hurried to the bunker's communication console. The stud switch and control pad for the emergency beacon were precisely where Tyranus said they would be. After entering the code Tyranus had provided, Grievous pressed his alloy hand to the switch.
Palpatine watched him from the doorway. "That will call many Jedi down on you, General-some of whom you may regret having summoned."
Grievous glared at him., "Only if they fail to challenge me."
Luke noticed immediately that Dooku hadn't fled alone. The only indication of Tythe's invasion were the hulking remains of Seperatist and Republic warships, tumbling indolently in starlight.
"We were all beginning to wonder if you were going to return," a human crew chief said by way of welcoming Obi-Wan, Anakin and Luke back to the assault cruiser's ventral landing bay.
Luke, with some help from Anakin, descended the ladder affixed to his starfighter's cockpit, wincing as he moved his shoulder. Anakin gazed at him with concern in his eyes. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, the worry clear in his voice.
"I am fine, Father," Luke murmured in reply.
"When did the Separatists jump?" asked Obi-Wan as he descended his own ladder.
"Less than an hour, local. Guess they had enough of the pounding we were giving them."
Anakin snorted. "Believe whatever you want."
The crew chief furrowed his brow in uncertainty while Luke gently placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder.
"Do we know where they're headed?" Obi-Wan asked quickly.
The crew chief turned to him. "Most of the capital ships jumped Rimward. A few appear to be headed for the Nelvaan system-thirteen parsecs from here."
"What are our orders?"
"We're still waiting to find out. The fact is, we haven't received any communications from Coruscant since the start of the battle."
Luke and Anakin exchanged a look of sudden interest at the crew chief's remakrs.
"Could it be local interference?"
The crew chief looked dubious. "Several other battle groups reported that they have been unable to communicate with Corsucant," he said.
Anakin shot Obi-Wan an embittered look and began to storm away. Luke immediately hurried after him, wincing and letting out small cries of pains whenever he moved his shoulder. Anakin immediately stopped and put an arm around Luke's shoulder to keep him from moving.
"Don't move, Luke. You'll aggravate your shoulder wound," he murmured, his voice hardly containing the anger that Luke knew his father was feeling.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan said, following in his footsteps.
Anakin glared at him. "We were wrong to come here, Master. I was wrong to come here. It was all a feint and we fell for it. We're being kept away from Coruscant. I can feel it."
Obi-Wan folded his arms across his chest. "You wouldn't be saying that if we'd captured Dooku."
"Dooku must have been expecting to escape," Luke murmured. "That is the only thing that makes sense. I don't think he was only trying to keep you two from Coruscant, I think he was trying to do something much more but I can't seem to figure out what it was."
"Neither can I," Anakin growled. "And we didn't catch Dooku, Master," he added to Obi-Wan. "That's what counts. And now no communication with Coruscant? You don't even see it, do you?"
Obi-Wan regarded him carefully. "See what, Anakin?"
Anakin started to speak, then cut himself off and began again. "You should keep me fighting. You shouldn't give me time to think."
"Calm yourself," Obi-Wan said resting his hands on Anakin's shoulders. Luke gently placed his hand on his father's arm but Anakin shrugged both of them off, a new fire in his eyes.
"You're my best friend, Obi-Wan. Tell me what I should do. Forget for a moment that you're wearing the robes of a Jedi and tell me what I should do!"
Luke gazed at his father, startled by the gravity in Anakin's voice. "Father…" he began.
Anakin gazed at him and he slowly calmed down as he waited for Obi-Wan to reply.
Obi-Wan was silent for a long moment. "The Force is are ally, Anakin. When we're mindful of the Force, our actions are in accord with the will of the Force. Tythe wasn't a wrong choice. It's simply that we're ignorant of its import in the greater scheme."
Anakin lowered his head in sadness and Luke put his arm around his father's waist in an attempt to soothe him. "You're right, Master. My mind isn't as fast as my lightsaber." He stared at his artificial limb. "My heart isn't as impervious to pain as my right hand."
Luke glanced toward Anakin's starfighter suddenly as the crew chief walked quickly over to join them. "General Skywalker, something has your astromech very flustered.
Obi-Wan and Anakin, who guided Luke, swung to Anakin's starfighter.
"Artoo?" Anakin said in a concerned tone.
The astromech tooted, shrilled and chittered.
"Does he understand droid?" The crew chief asked Obi-Wan as Anakin and Luke hurried past him.
"That droid," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin began to scale the cockpit ladder and Luke stayed at the bottom of the ladder.
"What is it, Artoo? What's wrong?"
The droid whistled and zhithered.
Throwing himself into the open cockpit and allowing Luke to climb up to sit on the edge of the cockpit beside his father. Palpatine's voice suddenly issued through the cockpit annunciators.
"Anakin, if you are receiving this message, then I have urgent need of your help..."
Luke heard the crew chief's comlink tone.
Obi-Wan glanced from the crew chief to Anakin and Luke and back again. "What is it?" He asked in a rush.
"Tight-beam comm from Coruscant," the crew said. He listened for another moment before adding, in obvious disbelief. "Sir, the Separatists have invaded."
Obi-Wan and Luke gaped at him in shock.
Anakin, on the other hand, lifted his face to the high ceiling and let out a sustained snarl. Glaring down at Obi-Wan, he said, "Why does fate target the people who are most important to me?"
"I…" Obi-Wan began.
"Father…" Luke began.
"Crew chief!" Anakin cut them both off. "Refuel and rearm our starfighters at once!"
Leia gazed at the HoloNet feed with a feeling of dread surging through her. "I think we should have been there to help," she murmured glancing at Han.
"Leia, I'm sure Palpatine's capture would have happened if we had intervened as it is," Han pointed out.
"But we were sent to the past in order to change it. If this is what happened to led to our future then is there any way we can stop it?" Leia asked her eyes wide.
Han wrapped his arms around Leia before he gently stroked her hair. "Leia, we've already decided that if we stop…" he lowered his voice to a whisper to that Yoda, who was watching the HoloNet feed nearby, wouldn't overhear and added, "…Vader from coming into existence then everything that happened in the future won't happen. Alderaan, Yavin, Bespin. We can't very well focus on more than one goal, Leia, or else we would be so swamped with work. And what if we are unable to change the point in the past that causes Vader to come into existence?"
Leia sighed. "You do have a point, which is really odd for me to say, especially about," she murmured. Before Han could reply to that, she turned to look at Yoda, another feeling of dread surging through her. "Master Yoda, is Palpatine a good friend of Anakin?"
Yoda looked at Leia. "Yes," he replied.
Leia felt another surge of dread go through her as she turned to look at Han before she gestured to him. The two of them moved out of earshot of the little green dwarf. Leia gazed at him. "Palpatine is a good friend of Anakin. And Yoda said that fear is one of the passionate emotions that leads to the dark side. If Anakin fears that Palpatine will die then it will make him more likely to turn to the dark side," Leia said.
Han grimaced. "I hope something can be done to help Anakin not get angry," he said softly.
"I know but Luke is with him and I'm sure he'll be able to help him," Leia said.
"I hope so too," Han murmured in reply.
Mace's voice rumbled form the speaker at that moment. "If we can ever break through this fighter screen, we'll storm the cruiser."
"Kill the Supreme Chancellor, Grievous will," Yoda pointed out.
"I don't think so. He's had plenty of chances already."
"Wait, then, to hear the Separatists demands, we should."
"The Senate will give away Coruscant to effect Palpatine's release."
"Worse the situation will be if the Supreme Chancellor dies. Fall, the Republic will."
Leia frowned at that mention. Does that mean Palpatine dies? Is that why the Republic fell? She wondered silently. She had a feeling she should remember the name Palpatine but she didn't understand why she felt that way.
"What should we do?" Mace asked.
"To the Force, look for guidance. Accept what fate has placed before us. For now, prevent Grievous's fleet from escaping to hyperspace, you must. Recalled, many Jedi and others have been. Turn, the battle will, when they arrive."
"Master Yoda, we were close to capturing Sidious. I could feel it."
"Knew this, Sidious did. Hiding, he is."
Perhaps hiding in plain sight, Leia thought. "Could Sidious be, somehow, hiding in plain sight?" she asked.
Yoda and Mace's holographic image glanced at her in surprise. "Mean what do you?" Yoda asked.
"If Sidious is on Coruscant and Master Windu feels that you were close to capturing Sidious, wouldn't it be safer for Sidious to hide out in plain sight?" Leia asked.
"I can see where Leia's going with this," Han said musingly. "No one would think that this Sidious person would hide right under our nose. They'd likely think he's hiding in a hole somewhere when he could be right outside our door."
"Hiding in plain sight, he may be," Yoda said.
"For some reason, it certainly sounds like something Sidious would do," Mace agreed silently. "But if he is hiding in plain sight then who is he?"
"Know that I do not but no longer on Coruscant he is."
Leia narrowed her eyes, suspicions starting to crawl through her but she kept her thoughts to herself, unsure if she was correct or not and not wanting to put her thoughts out into the open.
"We'll pin Grievous here," Mace said, turning the matter back to the subject at hand, "like the vermin he is."
Mace severed the transmission and Yoda tottered to the windows. Leia and Han, after a moment's thought, followed him. Western Coruscant was engulfed by darkness; the sky above, splintered by rabid light. Leia watched as Mace fought nearby, calling his lightsaber to his hand, he ignited the blade and waved it through the air.
"Perilous the future will be. Cause for grave concern," Yoda murmured.
Leia knew that the battle in local space wasn't the end. She didn't understand why but she knew that the final act had begun.
The three starfighters sat side by side in the launching bay, only a few meters separating them, engines warming, droids in their sockets, cockpit canopies raised.
None of the pilots wore a helmet so Anakin could hear Obi-Wan and Luke plainly, especially when Obi-Wan called, "For all the jinks and jukes you've taken me through, there's no one else I'd rather fly with."
Anakin canted his head and smiled. "It's about time you admitted it. Can I take that to mean you'll follow my lead without question?"
Luke laughed. "Follow your lead? Don't you mean follow our lead, father?" he asked.
Anakin laughed as well. "That is true. There is nothing better than following two Skywalkers," he said.
Obi-Wan sighed rolling his eyes skyward. "I will follow both of you to the best of my ability," he said. "I may not always be able to remain at your wing, Anakin, but I won't be far off, and I'll always have your back and yours as well, Luke."
Anakin could see a smile plastered across Luke's face. "Thanks, Obi-Wan," Luke said.
Anakin chuckled. "When I call for help, you'll come speeding to the rescue," he said to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan smiled. "The day you call for help, I'll know that we're both in over our heads."
"I will have to agree with you on that, Obi-Wan," Luke called.
Anakin adopted a serious look. "Obi-Wan, you don't know how many times you've already rescued me." He looked at his son before adding, "You two as well, Luke."
"Then whatever lies ahead for us shouldn't be a problem," Obi-Wan said.
"That is true," Luke said.
Anakin laughed lightly. "Who'll restore peace to the galaxy if we don't?"
Obi-Wan returned a tight-lipped nod while Luke also nodded in agreement. "At least you said we," the two of them said at the same time and Anakin laughed.
They lowered the starfighters' canopies and engaged the repulsors, lifting off, rotating 180 degrees, and easing through the launching bay's transparent containment field.
Flying abreast, all but sharing a wing, they enabled their thrusters and banked away from the massive ship. Accelerating on columns of brilliant blue energy, sluing slightly to port, slightly sinister, they coupled with their hyperdrive rings and disappeared into the long night.
To Be Continued in Part II
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: and here come the very short chapters as part one is officially over
Darth: how long is part two going to be?
Blaze: probably five chapters, maybe six
Darth: why so short?
Blaze: because I am basing each chapter on my memories, not on the book, not to mention, the events after a certain part are going to be completely AU.
Darth: oh okay, which part will that be?
Blaze: I'm going to have a poll.
Anakin: In Part II, Blaze is planning on making this story completely AU following a certain event, which event will this be?
1. Anakin being placed on the Jedi Council
2. Palpatine telling Anakin about Darth Plagueis
3. Anakin's first vision of his wife's death
4. Anakin discovering that Palpatine is a Sith Lord
5. Mace and Palpatine's duel
Darth: that's cool, which one is it going to be?
Blaze: (whispers answer in Darth's ear)
Darth: really? That soon?
Blaze: yup
Darth: wow, that's cool
Blaze: yeah but I won't update until I get at least 150 reviews though I'll gladly accept more so please review and I will post whenever I possibly can or when I get 150 or more reviews. Don't forget, the next chapters are going to take more time to type since I have to try and remember how Revenge of the Sith began.
Blaze: (Silent for a moment) Ah heck, I'll just use the book so expect the next chapter by Tuesday of next week at the latest.