Under Attack

Padme stared at Anakin, hardly believing what she'd just heard. I would give up everything...even the Jedi. His words echoed in her mind as he looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something back. She felt her heart begin to beat faster. Now was the moment. She had to tell him everything.

"Anakin, there's something you should know," she began, her voice shaking slightly. She paused, swallowing hard, her lips pressed together as though her body was unwilling to let her explain further. A look of concern was starting to spread over Anakin's face. Then the silence around them was broken by an all too familiar sound, causing both of them to look back toward the Senate Building.

"Was that blaster fire?" Anakin asked disbelievingly. They'd both been in war zones too often to mistake the sound for anything else, but Padme never expected to hear the zing of blaster bolts coming from the halls of the Senate Building.

"It certainly sounded like it," she replied. She could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in, and she went into autopilot from her days with the Rogues. Their conversation would have to wait, now was no time to be caught waxing romantic on a rooftop. She hitched up her skirt and pulled a small blaster from the thigh holster concealed beneath her dress. Anakin raised an eyebrow at her.

"It never hurts to be prepared," she said with a shrug. Standing up, she made her way back to the open hatch, the metal of the rooftop cold against her bare feet. Anakin followed, careful to watch his footing on the sloped surface of the building's dome. Padme crouched at the edge of the hatch and peered through it.

"Anything?" Anakin whispered as he knelt beside her.

"It looks clear," she said.

"I'll make sure," Anakin said as he stood up, unclipping the lightsaber from his belt. He leapt down through the hatch, landing in a crouch on the floor below. There was a snap-hiss as he ignited his weapon and casting blue light into the shadows. "It's fine," he said, looking up at her through the hatch, "come on."

Padme holstered her blaster and grabbed the edge of the hatch, swinging lightly down through the hole. Anakin listened at the door into the corridor for a moment, then opened it and stepped through. Padme drew her blaster again and followed him out into the hall in her bare feet, leaving her impractical shoes behind.

They made their way down the service corridor back toward the ballroom. Anakin kept his lightsaber ignited, and Padme's blaster was at the ready. As they walked, the sounds of another barrage of blaster fire echoed through the hall. They simultaneously pressed themselves into a doorway, but Padme quickly realized they were well away from danger.

"It sounds like it's coming from the Senatorial offices," Padme said, stepping out from the doorway and looking back down the corridor. "It can't be more than a few floors above us though."

"Who has offices in that area?" Anakin asked, also breaking cover. Padme considered for a moment, consulting her mental map of the building.

"Several prominent senators, and..." her eyes went wide as the terrible realization hit her, "and the chancellor." She saw Anakin's grip tighten on his lightsaber. "We have to go get help,"she said, turning back toward the ballroom. He nodded, and started to follow her, but his eyes were far away and distracted. They didn't make it more than two steps down the hall before Anakin spun around as though startled by something.

"What is it?" she asked, peering down the hall. She couldn't hear or see anything suspicious.

"No," he said to himself, shaking his head, "it can't be." He seemed to be almost in a trance. He'd sensed something, but she had no idea what.

"Anakin," she said, placing her hand lightly on his arm. He jumped at her touch, like he'd forgotten she was there. "What's going on?" He looked fearful for a moment, but then she saw his jaw set with resolve.

"Go back to the ballroom and alert the other Jedi," Anakin said, pulling away from her.

"Where are you going?" she demanded as he started down the hall.

"To find a dead man," he said cryptically, turning back just long enough to reply.

"What the hell does that mean?" Padme asked, bewildered, but Anakin was already running down the hall in the opposite direction. "Anakin!" she shouted after him, but he disappeared around the corner and didn't look back. "Anakin, wait!"

Padme took a step forward to follow him, but then stopped short. In her mind, she heard the rapid rhythm of two heartbeats that were not her own. Her days of running headlong into danger without a second thought were over. She took a deep breath, pushing aside her impulse to go after Anakin, and turned to continue toward the ballroom alone.

"Lock us down," Maul ordered Adisa through the comm. Within seconds he heard the sound of the blast doors closing and shielded blinds lowered over the window behind him. Maul turned to the chancellor. "Please," he said, standing and gesturing to the chair behind the desk, "sit."

"You're supposed to be dead," Valorum muttered as he slowly made his way around the desk and took his seat, always keeping one eye on Maul. The chancellor's fear was spreading through the Force, and Maul fed on it.

"It was not yet my time," Maul said thoughtfully, staring down Valorum. "But it may soon be yours."

"Do you have any idea how many military personnel, how many Jedi, are in this building right now?" Valorum asked spitefully, his fingers gripping the arms of his chair.

"I do," Maul said with a nod. The hint of a smile played across his face. "I most certainly do."

"The charges are set," Vigdis confirmed, coming back into the office from the antechamber and holding up the comlink to indicate she'd reached her crew. "Everyone is in position." Maul fixed his yellow eyes on Valorum.

"Now, Chancellor, it is time to do your part," Maul said, stepping in close to the trembling politician. "I believe the wartime powers the Senate granted you are very extensive. Time to put that power to good use." Maul flipped a switch and the console in the desk lit up. "You will order the immediate shutdown of the security systems of the Separatist prison ships," Maul commanded.

"And if I don't?" Valorum asked shakily, staring at the screen before him. Maul sat on the edge of the desk, taking the measure of his prisoner. He sensed Valorum's will was not strong. He would have no great difficulty in getting what he wanted.

"I assure you, cooperation or death are your only choices," Maul said with a sinister smile. "And if you decide on death," he added, drawing Sola's knife and twirling the ancient vibroblade in his hand, "know that it will not be swift, or painless." Maul watched Valorum's frightened eyes as they tracked the gleaming edge of the knife. "What will it be, Chancellor?"

"Rations," the guard announced gruffly as he approached the force-field of Tarkin's cell. Tarkin stood and walked up to the forcefield as the guard punched a code into the control pad outside. A small square opened up in the forcefield, and through it the guard handed Tarkin a tray. Tarkin's nose wrinkled as he looked down at his dinner, but he'd learned the hard way complaining would only earn him a beating.

Quashing his desire to throw the tray back in the guard's face, Tarkin took his meal without a word and the guard moved on. Tarkin sat resignedly at the edge of his bench and picked at the prison's pitiful excuse for food, but his dinner was soon interrupted as he heard an alarm sound on the control deck.

Tarkin set aside his tray and cautiously moved to the edge of his cell. He backed up slightly as group of clone troopers double-timed past his cell. He lurked just out of sight, blending into the shadowy corner at the front of his cell. From his position, he could just overhear the conversation taking place on the control deck.

"What the hell is going on?" the warden demanded to know, emerging from his office and onto the control deck.

"Sir, we've received a report that there is rioting on the prison ships," a clone trooper reported. "It's some kind of security breach." Tarkin's heart lept. This could be the chance he'd been waiting for the last four years.

"Initiate emergency protocols, we could be the next target," the warden ordered. Within seconds, the security doors all around the prison slammed shut. Tarkin stepped back as a durasteel grid closed over the forcefield of his cell and locked in place. The small slivers of light coming in through the windows vanished as blast doors slid over them.

"Emergency protocols are activated, sir. We're in full lock down," the trooper reported. Tarkin sighed heavily and returned to his bench. He stared a moment at his rations, then set the tray on the floor and pushed it to the far side of the cell with his foot. What little appetite he'd had was gone, along with his hope of escape. His long wait would have to continue.

Obi-Wan stood at the entrance to the Senate Building's ballroom, scanning the crowd for his wayward apprentice. He was certain Anakin had to be there, somewhere. Wondering how a man so tall could be so hard to find, Obi-Wan made his way further into the ballroom. Standing on tiptoe occasionally to look out over the crowd, he began to realize that he didn't see any Jedi in the ballroom. His senses tingled. Something was amiss.

"Wrong way, Kenobi," a familiar voice said behind him. Obi-Wan spun around in surprise and saw KeAnn Lyosar, decked out in a ballgown but looking deadly serious. "Come with me," she said, grabbing his elbow and steering him back out of the ballroom.

"What's going on?" he asked her, confused. "Where are all the Jedi?"

"There's been some kind of riot on the prison ships," she whispered as they walked back out into the hallway.

"A riot?" Obi-Wan exclaimed. KeAnn shushed him.

"Keep it down!" she hissed, glancing around. "Do you want to start a panic?"

"Sorry," he said, lowering his voice.

"The Jedi and the top military personnel are with General Palpatine in the building's command center, and that's where we're headed," KeAnn said quietly, leading them through a door that required her to use a code cylinder to open it. They passed through a series of other secured doors and finally arrived at a blast door guarded by four clone troopers, who punched them through to the command center.

"I found a straggler," KeAnn said as they entered the dimly lit room. A group of Jedi and Republic military leaders were gathered around a holoprojector, all looking worried as they muttered to one another and pointed to the floating diagram of the three Republic prison ships currently orbiting Coruscant.

"Ah, Master Kenobi," General Palpatine turned from the holo to greet him. "Glad you could join us." Obi-Wan bowed to the general and found a spot in the circle between KeAnn and Palpatine. The doors behind them opened again and a young officer entered.

"Sir, we still haven't been able to track down the chancellor," the officer reported to Palpatine in a nervous whisper just loud enough for Obi-Wan to overhear. "He isn't responding to his comm alert and no one can get through on the comm to his office." Obi-Wan saw Palpatine's jaw briefly clench in frustration. It was widely known that there was no love lost between the general and Chancellor Valorum.

"Take two guards and go up to his office yourself," Palpatine ordered. "I want him found."

"Yes, sir." The young officer rushed out again. Palpatine took a moment to compose himself, and Obi-Wan could almost see him pasting the veneer of genial authority back over his face.

"It appears the chancellor may be enjoying our celebration rather too much," Palpatine said with a smile. A few people laughed half-heartedly. "I don't believe we can wait on the leader of our Republic any longer. Director Organa, we're ready for your report," Palpatine said, gesturing toward Bail Organa on the other side of the projector.

"At 0700 hours we received reports from each of the ships of security system failures," Bail said, stepping forward. He pressed a series of buttons on the projector, illuminating different sections of each ship. "The crews of the Drall and the Tralus still have control of their armories and bridges. The armory of the Selonia, however, was overrun," Bail explained, magnifying the diagram of the ship in question. "The prisoners on that ship are armed and it is likely only a matter of time before the ship is entirely under their control."

"I will not have our ships stolen out from under our very noses," Palpatine said, a cold anger in his voice. "This is supposed to be our moment of victory."

"We can get troops onto those ships with space-worthy AT-TEs," Admiral Yularen suggested. "It won't take our clone troopers long to subdue the prisoners."

"Good. We'll play it off as a military preparedness drill, no reason to alert the general public to this...inconvenience," Palpatine said thoughtfully. "In the meantime, I want to know who or what is responsible for this breach."

"It could be a glitch in the system," Master Windu noted. "Those ships are long past their glory days."

"Unfortunately, I doubt it was an accident," Bail said, shaking his head. "That all three systems should fail at once suggests a coordinated attack."

"A slicer?" Master Unduli asked.

"More than likely," Bail said with a nod. "Though it would take a truly gifted individual to run a hack like this. In theory, only the chancellor should have sufficient clearance to shut down security systems on the prison ships." A tense silence filled the room as everyone's thoughts rushed through a series of dire scenarios, but it was soon broken by the voice of the officer manning the comm.

"General, there's an urgent communication coming through from Lieutenant Dieffen," the officer at the comm announced.

"Put him through," Palpatine ordered. The comm officer flipped a switch and the worried face of the young officer who'd reported on the chancellor at the beginning of their meeting appeared in the holoprojector.

"Sir, the chancellor's office is locked down," the officer said. Obi-Wan could see sweat pouring down the sides of the poor man's face. "There's no way to get inside. And…" the officer hesitated.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Palpatine demanded.

"The guards from the floor below heard blaster fire coming from inside the office." There was an audible gasp inside the room. Their worst fears seemed all but confirmed. Obi-Wan's mind raced, trying to take it all in and make sense of it. Whatever was happening was far greater than rioting prisoners.

"Stay there and set up a guard, we'll send reinforcements," Palpatine told Dieffen before disconnecting. "Do we have visuals in the ballroom?"

"One moment, sir." Obi-Wan felt dread beginning to creep into the room. He felt a cold malevolence through the Force, not unlike the sensation he'd had just before the attack above Geonosis, but he put that thought aside. Maul was long gone. "Sir, I...I can't seem to get a visual of the ballroom," the officer admitted.

"We've pulled every Jedi and every military officer out of that room," KeAnn pointed out somberly.

"The prison ships were just a distraction!" a Republic flight commander seethed, banging his fist on the edge of the projector.

"The ballroom being cut off from our communication system doesn't necessarily mean it's being attacked," Bail pointed out. "It could be a trick to throw us off balance."

"We must assume the worst," Palpatine said. "This could be an act of all-out war and we have the leadership of most of the galaxy in that ballroom."

"We should mobilize our full might," Yularen said, "and quickly, before this gets any further out of hand."

"I agree," Palpatine said. "Get your troops up to those prison ships and bring them back under our control. I want a perimeter set up around the entire Senate District, no one gets in or out. Organa, get your people on tracing this supposed slicer, I want to know who is in our system," Palpatine ordered.

"I will lead a team of Jedi to the chancellor's office," Master Windu said, jumping in. "The others will assist in securing the building."

"You have your orders," Palpatine said, looking around the room. "May the Force be with us."

Darth Maul. Anakin tried to wrap his head around the dark and malevolent presence he felt nearby as he rode the lift up to the floor of the chancellor's office. It can't be Maul, his mind reasoned, Maul is dead, your mother killed him. You were there, you saw. But the more he thought about it, the less certain he was. Maul was badly wounded, his ship destroyed, but Anakin had never actually seen the Zabrak's lifeless body.

The lift doors opened and Anakin sprinted down the hall. There was only one way to know for sure if the presence he sensed belonged to his old enemy, and that was to see for himself. He didn't know the layout of the building well, so he relied on his instincts. He was so caught up in finding the right office that he didn't realize there was someone else in the hallway until he nearly crashed into him coming around the corner.

"Master Windu!" Anakin exclaimed as he pulled up just short of colliding with the Jedi Master. Master Windu fixed him with a disapproving stare.

"Anakin," Master Windu said, lowering the purple blade of his just-ignited lightsaber. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard blaster fire, I sensed…" he hesitated, uncertain how much to divulge. "I sensed something was wrong."

"There's been some kind of attack," Windu explained. "You'd better come with me." Anakin nodded and followed the Jedi Master down the hall where two more Jedi were waiting to meet them.

"I see you found the source of one disturbance," Luminara Unduli said to Master Windu as they approached. Her apprentice, Barriss Offee, stood beside her.

"Anakin heard the blaster fire as well and came to investigate," Windu said. Anakin bowed slightly to the other Jedi in greeting. "We need to keep moving. Lieutenant Dieffen is expecting us at the chancellor's office."

"Then the chancellor was the target?" Anakin asked as they began to move down the hall at a brisk pace.

"We'll find out soon enough," Master Windu muttered. Anakin could sense the unease among his fellow Jedi. He felt it too. With every step the dark and sinister presence he associated with Darth Maul grew stronger. They turned a corner and came upon a gaggle of clone troopers and a young naval officer examining a set of closed blast doors.

"Thank the Force," the lieutenant said with relief, running up to them. "I don't know what to do, we can't get these doors open."

"Do we have confirmation the chancellor is inside?" Master Windu asked.

"He was seen headed this way shortly before news of the riots on the prison ships came through." Anakin looked up sharply. No one had shared that bit of news with him.

"What riots?" he whispered to Barriss as Windu and the lieutenant continued to chat.

"Someone shut down security on the prison ships," she whispered back. Anakin's heart sunk. The situation was even worse than he'd thought.

"There's no way inside, these blast doors are impossible to open."

"Not for a Jedi," Master Unduli said, igniting her lightsaber.

"Stand back," Master Windu ordered, activating his own blade. The two Jedi stepped forward and, in unison, attempted to plunge their blades into the blast doors. However, instead of slicing easily through the doors as expected, the laser swords barely scratched the surface, the metal refusing to yield to the Jedi weapons.

"Nothing should be able to stop a lightsaber like that!" Anakin insisted, watching in shock as Master Windu and Master Unduli withdrew their weapons. Master Windu touched the metal of the blast doors as though the very feel of the material would tell him something. Anakin noticed the doors were painted, but the paint had melted and chipped away where the lightsabers struck it, revealing the metal below.

"Sith-forged," Master Windu said, his brow furrowed. Anakin looked at him quizzically. "Metal put through a special forging process to make it lightsaber resistant." Windu explained, "An ancient Sith technique."

"But why would the chancellor have such doors?" Anakin asked, also running his hand along the exposed metal. There was something familiar in its shine.

"And where would he get them?" Master Unduli added, examining the metal for herself.

"Questions for another time," Master Windu said softly as he backed away from the door, looking up and down the hall. "Right now we need to find another way into this office. Lieutenant, have your men spread out down the hall and to the floor above. There must be a weakness somewhere we can exploit."

"Right away, sir."

"Master Windu," Anakin said as the clone troopers dispersed around them, "there's something else."

"Yes?"

"I sense a familiar presence in that room," Anakin said, his voice uncertain. "The presence of someone who I thought was dead."

"Whose presence?" Master Windu asked quietly, looking intently at Anakin.

"Darth Maul's."

Obi-Wan moved through the halls of the Senate Building, dashing from one point of cover to the next, his unlit lightsaber held tightly in his hand. He and the other Jedi were spread out in the circular corridors around the ballroom, scouting out the situation. And from where he was standing, it did not look good.

He ducked behind a column and peered around it, taking in the two large and rough looking aliens guarding the ballroom entrance nearest him. There were a limited number of ways to get inside the ballroom, and this one was clearly blocked. Behind the guards Obi-Wan could see the blast doors of the room were closed.

"Third floor north entrance is sealed off," he reported in to the others through his comm, "two guards." He knelt behind the column, waiting to hear from his fellow Jedi.

"Same on the first floor," the voice of Master Fisto said through the comm. A series of similar replies followed.

"We can handle the guards easily enough," Master Ki-Adi-Mundi pointed out, jumping into the comm conversation.

"If we attack, we risk the lives of the hostages inside," Kit Fisto responded. "We must find another way." Obi-Wan peeked back around the column and tried to think of another option. None came to him, but then out of the corner of his eye he saw something move to his far left. He muted his comlink and crept out from his cover, headed away from the guarded ballroom and towards the flicker of movement he'd spotted.

The thick pile of the carpet muffled the footfalls of his boots as he gingerly sprinted across the corridor and turned a corner, trying to outflank whoever was coming from the other direction. The corridors around the ballroom were wide and high, and there were plenty of support columns for him to hide behind. He snuck up to one and glanced around it, waiting.

A few seconds passed before he saw a familiar silhouette dart from one column to another, blaster drawn. Padme. He plotted her trajectory in his mind. She was definitely headed for the ballroom. He had to get to her first, he couldn't risk an altercation with a guard that could set off retribution against the hostages.

Moving quickly, his footfalls silent on the thick carpet, Obi-Wan maneuvered his way around and behind Padme's position. He could see she was eyeing the guards at the nearest entrance, calculating her next move. As she took a tentative step forward, Obi-Wan knocked against the column he was concealed behind. Padme spun around, her blaster zeroed in on his head as he peaked around the side of the column.

Her blaster dropped as she recognized him, and he saw the tension go out of her shoulders. He put a finger to his lips and jerked his head toward an open lift a few paces away. She nodded and followed him as he made for the lift. Obi-Wan stood aside to let Padme enter the lift first, then scanned the area one last time for enemies before following her inside.

"I could have shot you!" she whispered as the lift doors closed. Obi-Wan quickly jammed the controls so the lift remained stationary and the doors wouldn't open from outside.

"You could have tried," he said wryly. "How did you get out of the ballroom?"

"I wasn't in there when the attack happened," she explained vaguely, waving off the question. Obi-Wan thought she looked slightly guilty. "Have you seen Anakin?"

"No," he said knowingly, raising his eyebrows at her, "have you?"

"We heard the blaster fire in the office wing and he rushed off to investigate," she said hurriedly.

"Of course he did," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. He'd left Anakin to his own devices for a few hours and he'd gone gallivanting off with an old flame and dashed into danger. What else did you expect? the voice in his head asked, but he silenced it. "I'm sure he's fine, Master Windu and a few other Jedi are also on their way to the chancellor's office." Padme nodded, though he could see she was still worried. She wasn't alone.

"What's going on?" Padme asked, steering the conversation away from Anakin. "Are we under attack?" Obi-Wan quickly laid out for her what he knew of the infiltration of the Senate Building and the riots on the prison ships. Her face darkened as he explained the hostage situation in the ballroom.

"Do the Jedi have a plan for liberating the ballroom?" she asked.

"We were just discussing that," he said, holding up his comlink. "We can't start taking out guards and chance a massacre."

"No, agreed," she said. "What we really need is a way to get in without being noticed."

"Every blast door is sealed and every entrance guarded, there's no way inside," Obi-Wan pointed out. Padme frowned, thinking.

"Actually, there might be," she said, looking up at him as inspiration struck. She punched the controls for the lift, opening the doors, and grabbed his arm to lead him back into the hall. "Come on, Kenobi, follow me."

"Patch us into the ballroom," Maul ordered into the comm as he activated the holoprojector in Valorum's desk. A moment later the ballroom flashed into existence before them, a sea of over-dressed government officials and dignitaries, all looking quite nervous as armed guards roamed among them and blocked the doors. There were numerous gasps as the image of the supposedly deceased Sith Lord emerged at the center of the room. Maul soaked up their shock and terror.

"Greetings, leaders of the Republic," he began, looking into the holocam. He kept the visual only on him for now, waiting to reveal his prisoner. "I am afraid the celebration of your victory against the Separatists was premature."

"There are Jedi outside the door," one of the guards whispered anxiously as he watched the feed from the security cams. Maul muted the holocam and stepped over to look. The guard was right. Four Jedi stood outside the main entrance to the office, along with a Republic officer and a gaggle of clone troopers.

"The doors will hold them," Maul insisted, moving back toward the desk.

"I've never seen a door that can hold a Jedi," Vigdis said nervously.

"The doors will hold," Maul said again. "Besides, we won't need to worry about the Jedi for much longer." Maul turned the cam back on and resumed his address to the ballroom. "All of you, along with your chancellor, are now my prisoners." Here, for dramatic effect, Maul tilted the camera to show Valorum, strapped to his chair and sweating profusely.

"They're doing something to the blast doors," the guard at the security feed muttered to Vigdis. Maul ignored them, continuing on.

"There are charges set all around the ballroom, ready to be detonated on my command," Maul explained. "My men are guarding every entrance and exit."

"Are they meditating?" Vigdis asked the guard. Maul flashed a warning look at the pair of them, hunkered over the monitor, but they paid him no heed. He turned back to the holocam, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"There is no escape." The rest of the crew was now watching the security monitor, their collective muttering rising in volume. Maul's temper flared. "Surrender is your only option," Maul finished, then cut the signal before rounding on his crew. "Enough!" he shouted, as they all stood, staring at the screen, but they seemed unfazed by his anger, transfixed as they were by what was transpiring outside the office door.

"Sir, you'd better take a look at this," Vigdis said, motioning him over. Maul's anger was still hot. This was supposed to be his moment of triumph. He had no time for meddling Jedi distracting his soldiers. But he knew better than to discount the danger.

"They're opening the blast doors with their magic," one of the guards said, pointing to the screen. Maul squinted at the monitor. He could see the Jedi, covered by their clone troopers, sitting in a line, legs crossed, and in front of them the impenetrable blast doors were slowly opening.

"It isn't magic you fool," Maul snarled, pushing the guard aside "it's the Force." Maul did not have time for this. The Jedi could destroy everything. He would have to accelerate his plan. "I think the time has come to bid our Jedi friends farewell." Maul pulled the datacard from his pocket and strode back to the desk.

"What's that?" Valorum asked as Maul inserted the datacard into the console. "What are you doing?"

"Executing an order you should have given long ago." Maul said as he waited for the datacard to load. Valorum's face went ashen.

"Order 66?" he asked, panicking. "No," Valorum said, shaking his head, "you don't understand. You can't."

"Oh, but I can," Maul said as the console lit up, telling him everything was ready. The order was prepared to broadcast to all channels. This was it. "And unlike you, I will." Maul activated the encrypted order stored on the datacard with the press of a button. He turned back to the security monitor, waiting for the inevitable betrayal of the Jedi by their own clones, a wondrous sight he had witnessed once before. But it never came.

"Was something supposed to happen?" Vigdis asked after several tense minutes passed. Maul rushed over to the monitor, slamming his fist against it as though there might be an issue with the feed, but he knew there wasn't. Instead, he saw the clones propping open the blast doors and his enemies streaming into the antechamber just outside.

"What did you do?" Maul snarled, rounding on Valorum. The chancellor cowered in fear as Maul lunged back toward the desk, towering over him. "Those clones should have turned on the Jedi! Why didn't it work?"

"I tried to tell you…" Valorum squeaked.

"Tell me what?" Maul roared.

"M-m-m-my authorization isn't sufficient," Valorum stuttered, "not after what happened at Geonosis." Maul grabbed Valorum by the throat, brandishing the vibroblade in his other hand.

"Then whose authorization do I need?" Maul asked, his anger on the edge of boiling over. He could feel Valorum struggling for breath.

"Gen...Gen…" Maul relaxed his grip slightly. "General Palpatine," Valorum spat out at last, gasping as Maul released him.

"They're coming through!" Vigdis shouted as a sizzling sound rended the air and four molten orange spots appeared on the blast doors between the office and the antechamber. But Maul barely registered the imminent arrival of the Jedi. His mind was reeling. Palpatine. How long had it been since he'd heard the name of his old master? And now, ironically, the man who had tasked him with the destruction of the Jedi was all that stood between Maul and the fulfillment of that dream.

"What do we do now?" Vigdis asked, backing away from the failing blast doors. Maul looked up, forcing himself back into the present. He could not reach his master now, he knew that. To protect his identity, Palpatine was almost always cut off from the Force. But it wasn't too late. He just had to find someplace safe, someplace where his master could come to him. First, though, he would have to deal with the Jedi.

"Blasters at the ready!" Dieffen shouted to his troopers as the standard blast doors between the antechamber and the office melted away. Anakin held the hilt of his lightsaber tightly, ignoring the urge to step away from the burning heat of the molten metal. Beside him, Barriss stepped aside as a large chunk of the doors fell away. Almost immediately, blaster fire came pouring through it.

"Hold your fire!" Master Windu ordered the clones, who worked their way to the sides for better cover. "We can't hit the chancellor." Anakin scoffed internally at Windu's caution. If it really was Maul in there, they had to move quickly and decisively. Not waiting for orders, Anakin moved out from the door and dove through the large opening Barriss had created.

A blaster bolt singed his tunic, but he rolled out of his dive unhurt, lightsaber at the ready. Someone set off a smoke bomb, turning the air around him opaque. They came at him through the mist, but he was ready. He cut down a Separatist dressed as a Republic guard and deflected a blaster bolt into the chest of another disguised in the same way. Then, a cold and familiar voice came drifting through the smoke.

"Well, well," Darth Maul said as he emerged from the swirling cloud, holding a knife to Chancellor Valorum's throat. Anakin felt his blood start to boil. Maul was alive. "Young Skywalker," Maul said. "We meet again."

By now the other Jedi and their backup had joined Anakin in the main office. The smoke was clearing, and Anakin could see two more men disguised as guards and a Faleen female with a tight grip on a second hostage.

"Darth Maul," Master Windu said, his purple lightsaber gleaming as he held it in front of him,"release the chancellor. It's over."

"Oh, I don't think so," Maul said, turning his eyes from Anakin to Windu. "In fact, it's only just beginning." Anakin heard a click and just saw the Faleen's arm twitch slightly as she activated a detonator. Another series of smoke bombs went off, detonated remotely, and before the smoke cleared there was the sound of blaster fire and shattering glass.

Anakin charged forward without thinking, swinging wildly, hoping to hit something, anything, and put a stop to Maul's escape, but he met only empty air. He stumbled over an overturned chair and toppled forward, nearly falling out the broken window before Master Windu grabbed his arm and pulled him back from the edge.

"They're gone," Windu said, stepping to the ledge and looking over it. Maul and his compatriots had gone out the window with grappling guns. The clone troopers took a few pot shots as the disappearing dots in the distance, but it was too late. The Separatists and their prisoners were already safely away, some twenty floors down.

"Hangar bay," Master Unduli said. Master Windu nodded.

"The chancellor's yacht." He pulled out his comlink. "We need reinforcements in the chancellor's private hangar, now."

"There are maintenance tunnels we can use to get there faster," Anakin said helpfully, already halfway out the door."

"Master Unduli and I will handle that," Windu said. "You and Barriss will return to the commander center and report to General Palpatine." Anakin shook his head urgently, unwilling to be pulled off the hunt.

"Sir, let me go after Maul," Anakin begged. "I can end this."

"This is no task for an apprentice, Skywalker," Windu said sternly, and, before Anakin could protest, Windu was sprinting down the hall with Master Unduli and the clone troopers in tow.