AN: Monster delays with this chapter. But finally it is ready. If you are keeping up with my Shadows series, the rewrites for Mara's parts are done, and thus I will be working on chapter 11 there. As many of you probably know I write with Yoda1976. He just finally got through another chapter of "Changes on the Hellmouth." We are working on Assimilation and whatever strikes my fancy for that day on mine.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan sounded frustrated, and even looked frustrated as Anakin glanced over at him in the cockpit of his fighter, and he sighed mentally.
"I am sorry, Master," he said, an old saw, but one he was used to taking great pleasure in. "But the Code will be brought back before the Council. I can feel the Living Force flowing through the words. Harmony is my voice even in chaos."
"I know you agree with Seranth, and to a limited extent, I can see where you are coming from, but I don't think the rest of the Council has been properly prepared to accept that this…radical departure from tradition is really what's best for the Order."
"So…they will need more time?" he asked, nodding to himself. He had expected as much when he'd encouraged the idea.
"I think it's more than that. They will need a compelling reason to change."
"That would be slightly more difficult to conveniently provide them."
Obi-Wan sighed. "We should be focusing on landing ourselves, and we can talk about fixing the problems with the Order once we have Grievous in hand."
He nodded acquiescence, and with that they flew their fighters into Utapau's soupy atmosphere without further comment. He could sense Grievous's presence, and that created both fear and excitement within him. He recited something in his head that he'd heard so many times, as an automatic reflex, 'Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, suffering leads to the dark side.'
And he realized that was part of his problem. Fear was a tool, his body's natural response to something that could get him killed, and fighting Grievous definitely fell in that category. He acknowledged that part of the fear, and it changed within him. It prepared him for the fight; it sent adrenaline racing through his system, sharpening his already-Force-enhanced senses. It didn't go hiding within a dark well inside his soul where he couldn't see it anymore, because not seeing it didn't make it go away. And in that moment light began to expose the places where he had hidden his fear, and he knew that if he took the time to truly reflect upon the state of his soul he wouldn't be any help to Obi-Wan.
He resolved to deal with it as soon as they got done with Grievous. "Anakin?" Obi-Wan questioned, having picked up on this change in him.
"It's something else we can talk about later, Master. You are right, it is high time to focus on our mission."
"Don't think I'll let you forget."
"Of course," Anakin said, and with that, they started to dive together into the atmosphere at a sharper angle.
Palpatine noted another report of nothing from his spy drones. If Anakin was on planet, he was certainly staying well hidden. The Council had reported that Master Kenobi was being given leave to investigate this sighting of Grievous "as he saw fit."
Which, of course, meant that if he happened to see fit to take Anakin, the Council didn't necessarily have to report that particular fact. It was looking more and more like he'd done so, and Palpatine didn't like being kept in the dark as to where the man he hoped to make his Apprentice was. It made him more edgy around the Council, and more ready to destroy them, but he couldn't, not yet. There were a number of their members that he could see as potential students, but they all paled in comparison to Skywalker. He was the grand prize. If he were to turn, or if Palpatine could get his hands on one of the children, then all would be well, but it would take work and skill.
It didn't matter what it took, so long as it got the job done. The problem currently was that if Skywalker and Kenobi were both going up against Grievous, Grievous would lose. It would have been close with just Kenobi, but it was the best shot he had to ensure that Kenobi was put out of commission.
Viceroy Nute Gunray watched as the old ship, something common and not indicative of one of the primary leaders of the CIS, exited hyperspace near Coruscant. With what Lord Sidious had told them, it might be possible to capture one of the main people who was so outstandingly against everything that the CIS stood for. She also happened to be for peace, but she wasn't above fighting, even getting into the fray herself on occasion, especially if there were Jedi about. If the Viceroy had been a betting man, he would have bet she had something to prove. It would take them the better part of a day to land on the planet, with Coruscant being the center of the known galaxy.
He settled in to the room he had set aside for his office; it had originally been cargo space, but for this trip, it had been generously appointed for his use. He did small things, leaving a message for Lord Sidious that he was in system, checking his own messages, making sure that things were still running smoothly at the CIS base of operations as well as on Neimoidia.
"My lord," the pilot said from the door. "We are about to enter the atmosphere so that we can land. I am sorry but you will need to be secured in the main hold."
"Thank you," he said. Time had gotten away from him a little bit, but it was also earlier than he'd expected it to be.
Jander was in Senator Amidala's apartment. He'd searched several others in the area, ostensibly to find a peculiar electrical problem that the droids were having trouble tracing. He knew what it was, and as soon as he'd finished this search, he would go on to the last apartment, and 'find' the problem. The droids would fix it, and he'd be off for the day. But first he had to search for signs that Amidala was linked to Anakin Skywalker. There weren't many holos in the front rooms. In fact, there was little of personal value in any of the public rooms at all.
He slipped into the bedroom as the diagnostic computer he was tending spent ten minutes checking the focus cooker in the kitchen. He pulled out drawers and examined their contents without disturbing them much. He really wouldn't have time to put things back if he were interrupted. Fortunately, that would be unlikely. There were the usual female undergarments in most of the drawers he pulled open, but there was one drawer that was empty, except for a pair of pants that looked much too long for the petite Senator.
In fact, they were just about the right length for himself, at a meter-eighty. Perhaps even a tiny bit long for him, but he wouldn't have minded that. He did know that Anakin Skywalker was taller than he—a meter-eighty-five. His physical statistics were not hard to find. Perhaps she kept sleeping pants for him, for when their trysts tired him too much for him to go home to the Temple. Perhaps he slept there whenever he was on Coruscant, though that couldn't be much of late.
Jander put the pants back into their drawer, and went back into the kitchen, glancing at the report on the display. The unit had not been used in nearly two months. He frowned at that, wondering how that would coincide with the birth of the Skywalker child. It couldn't be too old, considering the Senator was still actively involved in politics. He would have to tell Leinea.
Obi-Wan sensed something slightly off as they approached the landing area. "Be cautious my young friend," he said to Anakin as they entered their final approach.
"Yes, Master."
They landed the fighters, and ground crews scrambled to the fighters, and ladders appeared even before their canopies were up. "Well, that was the easy part," Obi-Wan quipped, then he removed his headset, and Anakin did the same. They were out of the ships quickly enough, and were greeted by a Pau'an, his grey, lined skin pale even by the standards of his species. "Welcome to our port, young Jedi," he said, addressing both of them. A small signal to Anakin, and a slight nod in return, and Obi-Wan took the lead.
"Thank you," he said with a bow.
"If I might ask what brings you to our remote sanctuary?" the being asked.
"Unfortunately, the war."
The Port Administrator seemed slightly taken back by that. "There is no war here unless you've brought it with you," he said, eyeing Anakin.
"With your permission, my associate here," he indicated Anakin, "And I would like to use your city as a base to search nearby systems for General Grievous, and to get some fuel for our ships."
He leaned in close to Obi-Wan. "He is here! We are being held hostage. They are watching us."
"We understand," Obi-Wan said.
"The tenth level, there are thousands of Battle Droids."
"Tell your people to take shelter. If you have warriors, now is the time."
He nodded and left, and Anakin walked over as Obi-Wan headed deeper into the building. "Artoo," Anakin called.
"You and Geenine take the fighters back to Cody and tell him we've made contact."
Artoo beeped a question at Anakin. "Of course we are staying here. We need to keep Grievous from escaping."
Artoo wheeled off, beeping to himself, probably about the illogical ideas humans had. "Do you think it will work?"
"Depends on how closely we were being watched."
General Grievous bowed before the holographic imager as he turned it on. "Yes, Lord Sidious?"
"General Grievous. The end of the war is upon us, I think."
"There is someone coming," Grievous surmised the reason for Sidious's contact.
"Yes. Jedi will be on planet soon. I do not know specifics of their tactics. General Kenobi is going, and he may have brought others. Kill him if you can. Do not worry about anyone else, even Skywalker."
"Yes, my lord. It will be as you command."
"Good," Sidious said, and then the imager shut down of its own accord. He thought about what would need done, and decided that the Separatists needed to be moved first, then he could see about extra security in the port area, and if there was time after that, begin preparations on his battle plans.
He strode out of the room, down to where the Separatists would be meeting. "You must not stay here for any longer," he told them.
"Why not? We demand an explanation."
"It will not be long before the armies of the Republic track us here. I am sending you to the Mustafar system in the Outer Rim. It is a volcanic planet. You will be safe there."
"Safe? Harumph. Chancellor Palpatine escaped you, General. Without Count Dooku, I have doubts about your ability to keep us safe."
"It was never intended that we keep Chancellor Palpatine indefinitely. Your ship is waiting," he said dismissively, and strode off to see about the preparations he would need to make when he heard a familiar voice, "Hello there."
He turned around, disbelieving for a split second, but he recalled the conversation he'd just had with Sidious. Seemed his information was right. "General Kenobi. You are a bold one. Kill him," he said to the guards. They advanced on Kenobi, but the Jedi had other ideas. He released a piece of equipment that had been held in place above where the guards were stepping, and it crushed them. One managed to escape to the point of trying to grab its staff, but Kenobi easily cut it in two. "Back away," he said to the other droids. He didn't want to lose more than he had to. "I will deal with this Jedi slime myself."
"Your move," Kenobi conceded.
"You fool, I've been trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku," he said, flourishing his cape and pulling out four lightsabers. "Attack, Kenobi."
"I think not," Kenobi said, and brushed a finger against his nose. Skywalker dropped from somewhere above to join them. "You see how much easier things go when you follow my lead?"
"Yes, Master," Skywalker said, "Shall we kill him now, Master?"
"Yes, I believe that is the next order of business."
Padmé was amazed sometimes how fate could change at a whim; the house they'd purchased at a real steal had twelve bedrooms, as many 'freshers and the most gorgeous formal areas. It had been on the market for two hours before she'd gotten a chance to see it, and she decided immediately that she loved it. The deal had been closed less than 24 hours later, and now they were moving in.
"Padmé, when is the security system being installed?" her mother asked, and she looked down from the arches that grew to a point on the ceiling, from which a giant of a chandelier hung.
"In the morning. It should be fine, Mom, the property hasn't even been registered as being on the market, I don't think. Coruscant's officials try to keep up, but they are always behind on their paperwork; it is the nature of paperwork."
"This house is so large, it seems so extravagant a purchase now."
"It was very low priced, actually," she informed her mother, "And who knows, we may fill the space."
Jobal just shook her head, taking the bag of clothes that she had brought from Naboo up the stairs to the wing to the left; the wing to the right was currently closed off, as they didn't need the space for the family. Jobal and Ruwee were next to the nursery, while Padmé's room was on the far end to the other side of the nursery. On the other side of Jobal and Ruwee was Sola and Dared's room, and then the girls were in the two rooms closest to the stairs, sharing a 'fresher between them. The other wing was set up in the same way, and there were two additional 'freshers on the main floor. Both of those were so ornate as to be toeing the line of gaudy, but managed to be elegant instead.
"Aunt Padmé, Aunt Padmé," Pooja and Ryoo skidded to a halt a few feet from her.
"Yes?"
"This house is wizard! It's so huge!" Pooja said.
"And there are ten conservators in the kitchen!" Ryoo informed her.
"I know. This house is built to have parties in."
"Are we going back to school soon?" Pooja asked.
"Soon. I'm sure your parents will have thought about that."
"Aw!" the girls chorused before deciding that more exploration was in order.
Dared came down the stairway at that moment. "The cribs are set up, Padmé, all that is left in the car is Sola and the twins."
"Well, let's get poor Sola out of the car, I'm sure she's dying to see this place," she told him with a smile.
Cody closed his communicator. "Let's go. Commander Skywalker just confirmed contact with Grievous." The assault ships began their entry of the atmosphere turning to where Kenobi and Skywalker were. The first fifteen minutes of the assault was more like a training exercise to Cody than an actual battle. No anti-aircraft barrages came their way and the skies above Utapau were eerily clear of enemy fighter droids.
Then without warning, all hell broke loose as Vulture droids appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began attempting to shoot down the Republic assault craft. The escort wing of ARC-170's and the assault craft's own weapons stymied the droid's efforts, Cody's own ship took down three Vultures in quick order. Oddball's pilots were doing their jobs perfectly, but even then they were paying a terrible price.
"We need to get through this as quickly as possible! Take us down to near ground level, those Vultures will have a harder time stopping us that low. Comm officer, tell the ARC-170's to keep those damned Vultures busy and up there!" Cody said, planning on using the Vultures lack of atmospheric flight programming against them, at least he hoped the Seps hadn't updated these Vultures. If they had it was going to be a very long day for him and his brothers.
The assault ships dove through the clouds as quickly as they dare, while Oddball's ARC-170's kept the Vulture's occupied, or rather most of them. Unfortunately for the clones, they were terribly outnumbered in the air and at least one hundred of the ugly fighter droids followed the assault craft down to the deck. The Vultures were faster in the dive then the assault craft were and in spite of being surprised by the maneuver they quickly made up the lost range and began firing on Cody's landing force. Within seconds four of the assault craft exploded as missiles hit them. The rear gunners fired back at the droids with deliberate care and in quick succession a third of the offending fighters became so much plasma.
Another wave of missiles came into the assault crafts formation, distracting the fire from the rear gunners, of the sixty incoming missiles, only twenty made it past them and another ten were drawn off by EW packs the assault craft dropped. That left ten missiles targeting five of the assault craft. The missiles impacted destroying three of the group outright, one was damaged and went down, exploding when it hit the surface of the planet, the fifth one slowed and was caught in the fire of its brothers. It soon exploded in a fireball, the debris taking out a few of the pursuing Vulture droids.
They were now approaching the location General Kenobi and Commander Skywalker had landed at just as Oddball and the survivors of his wing came down and cleaned up the remaining Vultures leaving them a clean path to the LZ. The landing craft entered the pit that served as the home of the inhabitants of this world. Cody made a hand signal and all the troopers in his squad hooked up, he made another gesture and they rappelled down into the hanger shooting droids as they came in…by Kamino, there were a lot of clankers down there.
The troopers all rappelled from the landing ships at the same time when Cody gave the signal; General Kenobi and Commander Skywalker were engaged with Grevious, Cody turned away from that scene and focused on the battle he had to fight, landing in the landing bay, the droids were already moving into position and his brothers had begun to fall. Yet the clones were giving better than they were getting, destroying on average five droids for every one trooper to fall.
Cody charged forward and had to jump back as something fell from the catwalk above. He registered the fact that what nearly hit him was Grevious' head. Then nearby the rest of his body crashed down. The Jedi seemed to have accomplished their mission, and then they came down from the catwalk.
"Impeccable timing as always, Cody," General Kenobi said.
"Thank you, sir. We've taken this landing platform, we'll soon have the heavy weapons here and the clankers will be so much scrap."
"Good, let's get on with winning this battle!" Kenobi said and the three of them headed to the front. The Jedi were very good about that, leading from the front. Most of them did it, and only the Jedi no one expected it of lead from the rear, such as Master Yoda. The hours of combat bled into each other as it so often did, even though Cody knew exactly what the status of the battle was. In short, they were winning, but not as handily as Cody would like. Losses were steep. The battalion of destroyer droids had shredded Bravo Company of the third division and held up the left flank's advancement for twenty minutes. The clankers hadn't wasted those twenty minutes either. They had deployed defense turrets and explosive mines along both axis of advance Charlie Company had hit those, worse than the losses from the mines was the damage done, the mines had taken down a building and now they were clearing the remains from the road. They were almost through and Commander Skywalker was getting impatient.
"This is ridiculous! What are those droids doing, piling more rubble behind it?"
"I'm sure they would if they had it. Calm down Anakin, we'll get through soon enough," General Kenobi said.
"With all do respect, General, I agree with the Commander. This is taking too long and there's no telling what other surprises the clankers are setting up for us while we are stuck."
"It is of concern, true," Kenobi rubbed his beard thoughtfully, "Maybe I can do something about that."
"What do you mean, Obi-Wan?" Commander Skywalker asked.
"One person might get past their scouts and do some…preventive maintenance on their defenses."
"Excellent idea, now who goes?" Cody asked.
"Easy, I do," both Skywalker and Kenobi said at the exact same moment.
Kenobi turned to Skywalker, putting his hand on Skywalker's shoulder, forcing him to at least face him, if not necessarily look him in the eye. "No, Anakin. I'm best suited to this. You stay here and be ready to save me when I get into trouble."
Skywalker sighed, and for a second he thought the Commander was going to argue, as he had so often before. Cody hated that trait of the Commander, it was bad for morale, instead the clone was surprised to hear, "Alright, Obi-Wan, but don't you DARE get yourself killed."
"By your command, MASTER Skywalker," Kenobi said as he performed a mock bow before the younger Jedi.
"Yeah, yeah…make fun of me."
"I'll be careful, Anakin," Obi-Wan said more seriously and was gone.
Skywalker returned his attention to the bank of monitors for a short time, but he got anxious quickly. "I'm going to check on the progress on the road, I'll be back."
"Very well, sir," Cody said, remembering belatedly that the Council had given Skywalker some time to get himself together—it had apparently been productive, but this was his first mission in over a month. He dismissed the thought for later consideration, and returned his focus to his task.
Uqa do Amat was not happy. Chancellor Palpatine had personally asked him to head up the Committee on the Reconstruction of Naboo. He didn't need the headache, but he had to admit that the Chancellor's request had a certain amount of merit. Senator Amidala would not be as objective as someone from the outside, and being from Umgul made him affected by the tragedy on Naboo, but enough removed that he could be reasonable. At least he could be reasonable, unlike some of the Ugnaughts who shared his planet. Though Humans had their share of unreasonable beings.
He sympathized with the Senator of Naboo, but he understood the Chancellor's position. She was too close to the issue. He had all day the day before and all of today to think on his assignment, and now, in after hours meetings, he was getting ready to meet with the members of his committee for the first time. He had expected Senator Amidala to find him the day before, but she hadn't. He hadn't seen her at all, which wasn't unusual, since they didn't tend to run in the same groups, but he hadn't really understood it either.
Perhaps it was for the best that she hadn't. He didn't know her well enough to predict her reaction to being left off the committee entirely. If it had been him, he would have been unspeakably angry. But he was not her. She was reputed to be as fiery tempered as her friend Anakin Skywalker, yet as cool a customer as his Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
And that damned Grievous and his damned droids had bombed the planet and invaded without so much as a thought to what it would do. Without so much as a care as to how it would affect the flesh, because they were not flesh. A thought struck him. If they could get enough droids together to clean the planet, they could clean the radiation from them, and not risk living crews. Perhaps there were remaining droids from the Invasion of Naboo thirteen years prior, and they could be used. Perhaps not. He would have to ask.
He had a few minutes before he needed to be at the meeting, but he wanted to walk and think. He put the data discs he would need for the meeting in a convenient pocket, and headed out of his door only to nearly run into the lovely Senator Amidala. "Senator," he greeted her, his hands on her shoulders as he set her to rights.
"Senator Amat," she greeted him back. "I was wanting to speak with you about your thoughts on your appointment to the Committee on the Reconstruction of Naboo."
"Very well," he said, bowing in a formal way and beginning down the hall toward the conference room, "In truth, I'm a bit surprised you waited this long. I am on my way to the first meeting of the Committee."
"I had an appointment last night that would have been very difficult to reschedule, or I would have been here last night. Perhaps it is for the best, though. You have had some time to think on the seriousness of the Committee's work."
"I have," he said. "In fact, I was just thinking that we could potentially use droids to do at least some of the cleanup, allowing for less exposure to the radiation by living beings."
"An excellent idea," she agreed. "Any thought as to where those droids would come from?"
"A few. Do you know if there are any droids left from the Battle of Naboo?"
"I don't, but if you do decide to use droids, I would recommend using something other than battle droids. They are not as useful as you would think for something other than carrying around blasters."
"Really?"
"Knight Skywalker's penchant for building things and his status as a hero on Naboo allowed him to obtain several specimens of the battle droids from the Invasion. He was never successful in doing much of anything with them, so far as I know. I can ask him what would be required to convert them the next time that I see him, though I don't know when that will be."
"If you would. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"
"Not at the moment, Senator Amat. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I would understand if you thought that I was going to be forceful because this is my home."
"Not at all. While Umgul hasn't suffered the tragedy that Naboo has, we have taken in many refugees from the disaster, so we are in many ways just as affected by Naboo's health as the Nabooains themselves."
"Do you serve out of public interest or personal, Senator?"
"Public," he answered immediately. "Though I do acknowledge that the private interest is there, that the interest of my planet is also heavily in play here. I would be remiss if I did not admit my personal interests in a project."
"So you would. Though your interest serves the same purpose as mine. Getting the Naboo people back to Naboo is the primary concern of this committee, is it not?"
"Well, that will be something that is discussed, but I believe that is the general idea. I also realize how much government interference can cause harm. I will endeavor to see that this committee stays out of the way of relief organizations and such as much as possible."
"Thank you again, Senator," she said as he stopped.
"You are quite welcome," he said, and she took his hand for a brief moment, and her smile shone like Coruscant's sun. In that moment, he understood what it was that people saw in her and why they insisted that she was one of the most beautiful women in the galaxy.
"I will leave you to your work. There is a great deal that needs to be done before Naboo will be habitable again, let alone restored to her former glory," she said, and just like that she was gone.