Sequel to Fighting, 5th of Hope series, Disclaimer, I don't own jack.
Trying
Chapter 1
Two Jedi fighters headed towards the enemy cruiser. They moved and twisted to avoid the flack and laser fire. Anakin was on his modified ship with R2 and Obi Wan in a fighter with R4-P17. The battle taking place was synchronous. The enemy would fire and the fighters would gracefully move out the way. Obi Wan was bouncing around in his fighter with a frown, his ship rocking violently. Anakin was smiling as he was blasting droid fighters, "There isn't a droid made that can out fly you, Obi Wan, and no other way to get to the Chancellor . . ."
"Look out, four droids inbound . . . " Obi Wan interrupted. The droid fighters made the Jedi swerve in unison and several manoeuvres later, two of them collided into each other with balls of flame. Obi Wan struggled to maintain control of his ship. "We've got to split them up."
"Break left, fly through the guns on that tower," Anakin suggested.
Obi Wan flew to the huge tower on the cruiser, the two droids followed him. "Easy for you to say . . . why am I always the bait?"
"Don't worry. I'm coming around behind you."
Obi Wan flew around the superstructure, the two droid fighters on his tail blasting him with laser fire. "Anakin, they're all over me!" Obi Wan shouted as the shots made the fighter jumble about all over the place.
"Dead ahead! Closing . . . lock onto him, R2 . . ." R2 beeped in reply as Anakin swooped in for the kill. He blasted one of the fighters and it exploded. "We got him, R2!" Anakin laughed, blasting away at the other fighter, R2 beeped an angry warning. "I copy, R2."
"I'm going down on the deck." Obi Wan shouted.
"Good idea ... I need some room to manoeuvre," Anakin said in reply, continuing to shoot at the droids. Obi Wan dove towards the surface of the larger battleship through a maelstrom of laser fire. He skimmed the surface, closely followed by the droid fighter, and right behind that was Anakin. "Cut right. Do you hear me! Cut right. Don't let him get a handle on you. Come on, R2, lock on! Lock on!" R2 beeped as the crosshairs merged with the droid fighter.
"Hurry up! I don't like this!" Obi Wan said as he flew between a narrow gap formed by two towers on a battleship. The droid fighter hit Obi Wan's wing and ship parts flew around R4, "Ouch!" R4 merely swore viciously n droid language. "Don't even try to fix it, R4. I've shut it down."
"We're locked on ... we've got him . . ." Anakin said as he dropped behind the fighter and blew him apart, causing R2 to squeal in delight. "Yeah! We got him . . . good going, R2."
"Next time you're the bait . . . Now let's find the Command Ship and get on with it …" R4 concurred.
"Lock onto them, R2. Master, General Grievous's ship is directly ahead." R2 beeped in reply, "The one crawling with vulture droids. "
"I see it. Oh, this is going to be easy." Obi Wan said.
The Federation ship ahead of them had droid vulture fighters crawling all over it. The droids transformed into flight configuration and attacked the fighters. "Come on, Obi Wan."
"Not this time. There's too much at stake. We need help. Odd Ball, do you copy?"
"Copy, Red Leader." Odd Ball said through the com link.
"Mark my position and form your squad up behind me . . ."
"We're on your tail, General Kenobi. Set S-foils in attack position."
The protective ray shield on the main hanger of the Federation cruiser lowered allowing six new droid tri-fighters to emerge and join the vulture fighters. The Jedi extended the stability foils on the ends of their wings.
"This is where the fun begins. Ten Vulture Droids straight ahead, coming down the left side." Anakin said, R2 beeped worriedly.
"Add five Tri-fighters on the right . . ." Obi Wan added.
"I'm going head to head. See you." Anakin said as he veered off slightly.
"Take it easy, Anakin." Obi Wan cautioned as four clone fighters moved into formation behind them.
"I'm on your right, Red Leader." Odd Ball said.
"Incoming!" Anakin shouted as R2 squealed.
Five droid tri-fighters passed by at high speeds down the right. "Five more on the right!" Obi Wan said. Four more vulture droids passed to the left everything suddenly happened. Obi Wan and Anakin started flying in unison, backing each other up as R2 squealed in the background.
"Here we go." Anakin said.
The Jedi split up making quick loops around the fighters, ending up behind them, blasting all the way, the droid fighters exploded. "I'm going high and right."
"Hang on," Anakin cautioned, "There are four more of them."
"Stay with me . . . swing back and right . . . help me engage. Back off ... Let them pass between us."
"I'm coming around. I'm coming around on your tail." Anakin countered.
"All right, engage . . . and hurry. These droids are all over me like a rash." Obi Wan sounded slightly panicked.
In one swift move Anakin swung behind the fighter, blowing them away till there was only one left. He then accelerated past the last droid fighter and slammed on the breaks, swinging round and blasted the fighter from the front. Anakin and R2 flew through the debris as Anakin looked behind. "How many back there. R2? Three . . . Four . . . that's not good." he said in reply to the beeps.
"Anakin, you have four on your tail." Obi Wan said.
"I know. I know!" he replied frantically moving around to avoid getting hit.
"Four more closing from your left."
"I know. I know!" he said, noticing them.
"Break right and go high."
"I'm going low and left." Anakin countered.
Obi Wan shook his head, "He still has much to learn."
Anakin swooped low and skimmed across the battleship, dodging flack as R2 tried to get a sentence in, "Hang on, R2. Obi-Wan, do you copy? I'm going to pull them through the needle . . ."
"Too dangerous. First Jedi rule: 'Survive.'" Obi wan said.
"Sorry, no choice. Come down here and thin them out a little."
Obi Wan dropped behind the fighters chasing Anakin as R4 beeped at him, "Just keep me steady . . . hold on ... not yet. . . now break left." Obi Wan fired as he swung across the back of the droids. Anakin headed for the trench along the surface of one of the battleships. He flew into the trench which ended in a conning tower with a small slit between the two main struts. "You'll never get through there, Anakin. It's too tight."
R2 beeped nervously in agreement, "Easy, R2 . . . we've done this before."
"Use the Force, think yourself through, the ship will follow." Obi Wan taught.
R2 shrieked in panic telling Anakin that they were never going to make it, "Wrong thought, R2." Anakin said as he easily slipped through the narrow gap, the trailing droids crashed. "I'm through." he told Obi Wan.
Obi Wan continued to fire on the droids, driving them into the explosion. A clone fighter was hit and exploded spewing debris as the pilot flew into space. Obi Wan then peeled off and pulled alongside Anakin, Squad 7 were battling the droids. "There are too many of them." Odd ball said.
"I'm on your wing. Break left. Break left. They're all over me. Get them off my . . ." another clone said.
"I'm going to go help them out!" Anakin said, wanting to help the men he had flown beside for the last several years.
"No, no! They are doing their job so we can do ours. Head for the Command Ship!" Obi Wan ordered. Another clone fighter was hit and burst into flames.
A fighter raised it's head and located it's target and fired missiles at them. "Missiles! Pull up!" Anakin shouted as he and Obi Wan broke left and right, the missiles following. Anakin did a barrel roll spin causing the missile to collide and explode. Obi Wan banked sharply to either side, causing the missile to over shoot.
Obi Wan suddenly shuddered, his ship plummeting to the surface of the cruiser. Another missile hit debris and out of it came five silver balls which attached themselves to Obi Wan's ship. They ran across the surface like spiders. "I'm hit! Anakin?"
"I see them . . . Buzz Droids."
The Buzz droids crawled across the ship and started to tear it apart. Sparks errupted as they hit the wiring. One droid went after R4. "R4, be careful. You have one . . ." Obi Wan said, just as R4 got it's head ripped off. "Oh dear. They're shutting down all the controls."
"Move to the right so I can get a clear shot at them." Anakin said.
"The mission. Get to the Command Ship. Get the Chancellor! I'm running out of tricks here." Obi wan said as Anakin moved into position of Obi Wan's right side and angled his ship so that the guns pointed towards the droids. He fired vaporising two of the droids, along with Obi Wan's left wing, "In the name of …"
"Steady . . . steady . . ." Anakin said.
"Anakin, hold your fire . . . hold your fire. You're not helping here."
"I agree, bad idea. Swing right . . . ease over . . . steady . . ."
"Wait . . . wait . . . I can't see a thing! My cockpit's fogging. They're all over me, Anakin."
"Move to the right." he repeated.
"Hold on, Anakin. You're going to get us both killed! Get out of here. There's nothing more you can do."
"I'm not leaving without you, Obi Wan," he said as he moved his ship next to Obi Wans and tried to physically knock the droids off. There were five left. He managed to get one off, but dented the ship in the process. One of the droids tore off a piece of the front ot Obi Wan's ship. Flames burst out as did smoke, obscuring Obi Wan's view. Anakin managed to knock off another three droids, the last crawled onto Anakin's ship and started attacking R2. R2 fought back.
"Blast it ... I can't see . . . my controls are gone," Obi Wan said.
"Get 'em, R2. Watch out!"
"R2, hit the buzz droid's centre eye." Obi Wan advised.
R2 extended an arm and aimed a stream of electricity at the Buzz droid, it hit it's central eye and the droid fell off the ship. "Yeah, you got him!"
"Great, R2," Obi Wan concurred.
"Stay on my wing . . . the General's Command Ship is dead ahead. Easy . . . pull up ... Head for the hangar." Anakin advised.
"Have you noticed the shields are still up?" Obi Wan said, slightly sarcastic.
"Oh? Sorry, Obi Wan," Anakin said sheepishly as he streaked ahead of Obi Wan's disintegrated fighter and blasted the shield generator. It sparked and exploded.
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this." Obi Wan said as they started to land.
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Obi Wan's ship crashed to the deck of the hangar bay, engulfed by a trail of sparks. The blast doors started to slam shut as the material was sucked into space. Anakin swerved around the oncoming debris and made it into the hangar just in time. Obi Wan used his light sabre to cut his way out of the cockpit. He jumped clear just as his ship exploded and he was surrounded by battle droids. Anakin then followed suit and cut his way through to where Obi Wan was fighting. R2 popped out and followed Anakin. "R2, locate the Chancellor," Obi Wan ordered.
"Tap into the ship's computers," Anakin suggested.
They quickly cut down the last of the droids and followed R2 to the computer wall socket. A hologram of the Federation ship appeared. "The Chancellor's signal is coming from right there. The observation platform at the top of that spire," Obi Wan pointed.
"I sense Count Dooku . . ." Anakin said.
"I sense a trap," Obi Wan said.
"Next move?" Anakin said with a smirk, knowing what was coming next.
"Spring the trap," he said as they started to leave. R2 followed until they turned round to the droid.
"R2, go back. I need you to stay with the ship," Anakin ordered.
"Here, take this, and wait for orders," Obi Wan said, tossing R2 a comlink.
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Grevious entered the bridge followed by his two bodyguards. He walked up to the Neimodian Captain. "What's the situation, Captain?"
"Two Jedi have landed in the main hangar bay," the Captain replied.
"Just as Count Dooku predicted."
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Obi Wan and Anakin headed for the elevator. A door to the side opened revealing two of Grevious' bodyguards. "General Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker. We've been waiting for you."
"We are here to relieve you of Chancellor Palpatine, not join him." Obi Wan said as a dozen more droids joined the group. The Jedi ignited their light sabres and stood back to back. "Anakin. . ."
"Ready." he replied as they swooped in a half circle cutting a hole in the floor. They continued cutting till they were several floors down in a large generator room. Fluid was spewing everywhere due to the explosions causing pipes to overheat and break. The Jedi turned their light sabres off and Anakin dipped his hand into the liquid and sniffed it.
". . . fuel," Obi Wan said, "The slightest charge from our sabres will send this ship into oblivion. That's why they've stopped shooting."
"Well then, we're safe for the time being." Anakin said, thinking positively.
"Your idea of safe is not the same as mine." Obi Wan said, thinking Anakin had spent too long in the jungle. They ran as explosions rattled the ship, spilling more fuel. At the far end, six super battle droids dropped into the fuel. The sound of shield doors closing and locking echoed throughout. They passed several large power generators which sparked with excess power.
"They're sealing this section off."
"Six droids coming our way!"
The last of the doors could be heard closing in the distance. "Keep moving. There must be vents . . . This way." Anakin said as they moved along the wall. Anakin climbed up to the side of a small vent. The fuel getting ever closer to the sparks.
"We'll never get through that. It's too small!" Obi Wan said pointing to the vent.
They moved to the second vent, Obi Wan was swimming in fuel as Anakin felt along the ceiling to find another, smaller vent. He reached out with the Force and sensed another opening and moved on. Obi Wan, meanwhile was engaged in hand to hand combat with one of the droids. It pulled Obi Wan under the fuel, but before he drowned, Obi Wan disabled the droid and pushed him into the exhaust pipe.
The fuel reached their chins as Anakin found a very small metal grate. He pounded on it until it broke loose, "I found our escape vent".
"Anakin, this is no time for jokes. We're in serious trouble here." Obi Wan said seriously.
"Only in your mind. Obi Wan," Anakin said with a smirk, "Look, no structure. . . ." He grabbed the side of the tiny hole and gave it a big yank. It revealed a large work shaft, big enough for them. They scrambled through as the droids approached. They pulled themselves through the shaft until they came upon a small hatch on the side of the tube. "Here's a way out."
The droids had reached the opening in the ceiling at that point and the fuel within a few feet of the power generator. The Jedi had to work the keyboard on the pressure lock to open the hatch and climb into another narrowing shaft. They made their way to the end of the shaft. Going through another hatch they ended up in the main hallways. They slammed the hatch close and Anakin then sealed the hatch with his laser sword.
"That won't hold when the fuel hits those power dischargers." Obi Wan warned.
"The blast will break the hull. This side's pressurized," Anakin said.
"You still have much to learn, Anakin," Obi Wan said shaking his head.
The fuel hit the sparking and there was a huge explosion. It caused a great cloud of spray to rush out of the Cruiser. There was a large hole where Anakin had just sealed the hatch. Obi Wan stood back and then turned to Anakin in amazement, "All right, you win. I have much to learn. Let's go!" Anakin only grinned as they ran down the hallway.
The two Jedi waited for the elevator, but when they turned, they saw three destroyers, which started to blast at them. Anakin deflected the bolts as Obi Wan frantically hit the elevator button. The door finally opened and they rushed inside. The door shut, at which point the Jedi turned to see battle droids standing there. They were quickly dealt with. The elevator then ground to a halt. "Did you press the stop button?" Obi Wan asked.
"No, did you?"
"No!"
"Well, there's more than one way out of here." Anakin said as he ignited his sword and cut a hole through the ceiling.
"We don't want to get out, we want to get moving," Obi Wan said, R2.…R2. Do you copy? Activate elevator 31174 . . ."
Little did they know R2 couldn't do as asked as he was hiding from battle droids behind the Jedi star fighters. Obi Wan's caterwauling attracted their notice, much to the detriment of R2.
"R2?" Obi Wan asked as Anakin climbed through the roof of the elevator, "Always on the move." he muttered and then tried to talk to R2 again, who quietly beeped in reply. R2 was trying to muffle the comlink as the battle droids tried to figure out where the voices were coming from. R2 extended a tool and plugged into the computer interface. "R2, switch on the comlink. R2, do you hear me? R2, we gave you a job to do! R2." The elevator started to plummet, leaving Anakin to grab the hallway entry door. He tried to keep his grip as the door as sparking wires fell all around him. "Stop, stop! R2, we need to be going up." Obi Wan shouted to the com.
Anakin struggled to hang onto the narrow ledge when it was pried open from the other side. Two battle droids looked down and saw Anakin and pointed their guns at him. "Hands up, Jedi! Don't move."
The droids in the hangar overheard Obi Wan's com link message to R2. "There it is again."
"R2, do you copy? R2, do you hear me? R2, we need to be going up, not down." he said frantically, holding on for dear life. The elevator then stopped with a jolt causing Obi Wan to fall to the floor.
R2 was the discovered by the droids, he quickly managed to set the elevator with Obi Wan in racing upwards before he unplugged. Obi Wan stood up and brushed his clothing down, "Now, that's better . . ."
R2 meanwhile was being held up by some battle droids who chuckled at R2 cursing and swinging at them. "You stupid little astro droid!"
Anakin meanwhile, looked down to see the elevator coming towards him, he looked at the droids pointing guns down at him and calculated the perfect timing. He then pushed himself up and flipped into the elevator shaft. Before he could arc into a descent, the elevator chopped the droids in two and Anakin landing easily on the llid of the elevator. He jumped through the hole to a surprised Obi Wan who had ignited his light sabre. "Oh, it's you . . ."
R2 was also keeping busy, he sprayed the battle droids with his oil hose, making them slip on the oil. He then ignited his arm rockets, shooting out of their grip and setting them on fire. The droids slipped and slided until the ended up in chard heaps on the floor.
"What was that all about?" Anakin asked once they had settled down.
"Well, R2 has been . . ."
"No loose wire jokes . . . He's doing the best he can." Anakin said, defending the little droid who had saved his life a number of times.
"Did I say anything?" Obi Wan said innocently.
"He's trying!" Anakin said.
"I didn't say anything!" Obi Wan said defensively. The doors opened, allowing the Jedi to make their way to the main room of the Generals quarters. At the far end, Chancellor Palpatine sat. The Jedi moved towards him, seeing his distressed look. Obi Wan bowed, "Chancellor."
"Are you all right, Chancellor?" Anakin asked as he too bowed.
"Count Dooku." he whispered, making a small gesture with his tied hands. The Jedi turned to see the elevator doors opening. Dooku strode into the room till he was clearly seen on the balcony with two droids behind him. He looked down at the Jedi.
"Poser," Anakin muttered under his breath.
"What?" Obi Wan asked, his eyebrow raised slightly. He had heard.
"Nothing," Anakin coughed out looking down.
"This time we will do it together," Obi Wan said quietly.
"I was about to say that," Anakin replied.
Dooku jumped down to the main level of the room. It only made Anakin raise an eyebrow. Dooku was definitely showing off.
"Get help!" Palpatine said, "You're no match for him. He's a Sith Lord."
"Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our specialty," Obi Wan replied as they threw off their cloaks and ignited their light sabres in unison.
"Your swords, please, Master Jedi," Dooku said with ease, "We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor."
Obi Wan and Anakin moved towards Dooku, "You won't get away this time, Dooku." Obi Wan said as they charged. A great sword fight started.
"I've been looking forward to this." Dooku said.
"My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count," Anakin said.
"Good. Twice the pride, double the fall," Dooku said, right before he lunged. They fell back. "Your moves are clumsy, Kenobi . . . too predictable. You'll have to do better." As the battle proceeded Obi Wan and Dooku tired, Anakin though, once he found his centre, only grew stronger. He continued to drive the attack at Dooku, who, to give him time, threw Obi Wan back using the Force. Anakin and Dooku moved up the stairs. Once at the upper landing, Anakin leapt over Dooku giving Obi Wan time to reach the top of the stairs and deal with the Battle droids. Dooku knew he was losing so he cheated. He held Obi Wan up in the air and started to choke him. He then turned and kicked Anakin into the archway. Obi Wan was then sent flying to the lower level where he fell unconscious. Dooku then spun around and around un the air causing the balcony to fall onto of Obi Wan. Anakin then managed to spin and kick Dooku, sending him over the balcony. Anakin jumped after him. They then began to fight again. Anakin showed real skill and finesse, it was obvious that Dooku had no chance. In one smooth move Anakin chopped Dooku's hands off. Anakin caught Dooku's light sabre as the Dark Lord fell to the ground. Anakin put the two light sabre to Dooku's neck. Palpatine was grinning at Dooku's defeat.
"Good, Anakin, good. I knew you could do it. Kill him. Kill him now!" he said. Anakin felt shock going through Dooku at that statement. Anakin closed his eyes, but could sense nothing about the Chancellor. But it was something he would have to deal with another time. Instead of killing Dooku like the Chancellor wanted, he knelt down in front of Dooku and looked at the severed hands that were bleeding. Dookku and Palpatine looked at him, unsure what he was going to do.
Anakin looked at the bathetic stubs. "Dooku, there's nothing a healer can do. You're going to die in about and hour."
Dooku looked at Anakin in awe. "Your giving me a choice."
"You won't make it to a trial, yes, I'm giving you a choice, because no matter what you have done as a Sith, you did plenty of good as a Jedi, and if nothing else, I owe it to your Padawan, Qui gon."
"Do it," Dooku said. Anakin raised his sword and chopped his head off. Anakin sighed and went over to the Chancellor, who had gone awfully quiet all of a sudden. He untied the Chancellor who rose and rubbed his hands.
"We must leave before more security droids arrive," Palpatine said. Looking at Anakin searchingly. The ship began to list from one side to another. Anakin rushed over to Obi Wan and lifted the control console from on top of him and pulled him free. He knelt down to check his unconscious friend, Palpatine heading for the elevators. "Anakin, there is no time. We must get off the ship before it's too late."
"He seems to be all right. No broken bones, breathing's all right."
"Leave him, or we'll never make it."
"His fate will be the same as ours." Anakin said as he slung Obi Wan over his shoulder and headed for the elevator. At the elevator he pressed the button, "The elevator's not working," he lifted his comllink, "R2.." R2 beeped in response, ". . . Activate Elevator 3224." The ship suddenly shifted to it's side, the doors opening. Palpatine was thrown to the ground. Anakin jumped into the door frame of the elevator looking down the shaft. "R2 ... do you copy? R2, come in!"
The elevator shaft rotated to become a long hallway. Anakin clung to the doorframe as Palpatine struggled to join him.
R2, meanwhile was having troubles of his own. The ship rolling caused several objects to crash and form holes in the blast doors. R2 was gradually sliding towards one of the smaller ones. Various pieces of rubbish were flying around him until he ended up in a pile of broken droid parts.
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Anakin jumped into the elevator shaft with Obi Wan still on his shoulder. "We can't wait. Come on, we have to be fast." Palpatine climbed into the elevator and they started running down as the ship began to roll again forcing them from one side of the shaft to another. Noticing that the shaft was starting to move upright again, Anakin cut the controls on one of the doors, but before they could open the shaft became too steep to stand and they started to slide down the shaft. Anakin managed to grab some wires in the control box with one hand as the Chancellor grabbed his leg. With the ship righted they were left hanging. Obi Wan then chose that time to regain consciousness. He tried to look around. "Easy. . . . We're in a bit of a situation."
"Did I miss something?" Obi Wan said with false humour. He looked down at the never ending shaft and Palapatine. They heard R2 beeping on Obi Wan's com link. The ship began to roll again, causing the shaft to move in a 45 degree angle. They heard the elevator breaks release and saw the elevator rushing straight towards them.
"Hold on." Anakin said.
"What is that?" Obi Wan asked as they looked up to see the elevator approaching at high speeds, Obi Wan turned to Anakin, "Oops."
"R2, R2, shut down the elevator!" Anakin shouted.
"Too late! Jump!" Obi Wan said as Anakin let go. They fell about 300 feet before the tilt of the ship caught up with them. They hit the side of the shaft and slid down just ahead of the descending elevator. The ship continued to rotate until the shaft was horizontal. Obi Wan and Anakin took out grappling hooks and threw them so that they caught. The doors opened in the shaft allowing them to swing into the hallway leaving the elevator to roll by.
"Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable. Come on." Obi Wan said.
"R2, get down here. R2, do you copy?" Anakin said into the com link. Obi Wan and Anakin lead Palpatine to the hangar bay. The bay was extremely windy with rubbish being sucked into space. The hangar doors were closed, but due to the ship twisting and turning and entering the atmosphere they were under great strain.
"None of those ships will get us anywhere." Obi Wan said.
"I agree," Anakin said.
"What are we going to do?" Palpatine asked.
"I don't know," Anakin said shrugging his shoulders.
"Don't look at me. I don't know," Obi Wan said. Anakin and Obi Wan watched as Anakin's precious fighter got sucked out of the ship. "Bad luck, Anakin."
"Nah, the best bit's working on it. I can start over," Anakin then looked around. "Well, I have to say, we've been in worse."
"Yeah, remember that time.." Obi Wan started before the Chancellor interrupted.
"Excuse me, shouldn't we get out of here?" Palpatine said as the ship turned on it's side.
"Here, Chancellor, lock this around your waist, and hold on." Anakin gave him a length of cable from his utility belt and attached it around his waist. Anakin and Obi Wan then threw their cables to the ceiling and swung to the second set of pipes.
"We'll head toward the bridge and see if we can find an escape pod," Obi Wan said as he grabbed onto the pipe that ran along the ceiling. They precariously climbed along the pipe, the chancellor fell off a couple of times and Anakin had to struggle to get him safely back on, while Obi Wan spent the time deflecting laser fire from the droid below. They made it to the hangar doorway and closed it behind themselves.
Obi Wan and Anakin, out of breath, "Well, that was close," they said together, and laughed.
They then started to run down the hallway until ray shields dropped around them, putting them in and electronic box in the middle of the hallway. "Ray shields!" Anakin said.
Obi Wan took a deep breath to express his disappointment. Then he stood straighter confused, "Wait a minute, how'd this happen! We're smarter than this."
"Apparently not, Obi Wan. This is the oldest trap in the book . . . Well ... I was distracted." Anakin replied.
"Oh, so all of a sudden it's my fault," he said looking at Anakin.
"You're the Master. I'm just a hero," Anakin said, smiling at the old joke between them.
"I'm open to suggestions here," Obi Wan said looking around.
"Why don't we let them take us to General Grievous. Perhaps with Count Dooku's demise, we can negotiate our release," Palpatine said. The Jedi just looked at him as if he had gone slightly barmy. Grevious would most likely kill them on the spot than listen to a word they said.
"I say . . . Patience," Anakin said, completely unsure of the plan, knowing it was rubbish.
"Patience! That's your plan, is it?" Obi Wan said in the same manner a person might say, "You're mother was a hut?"
"Yes, R2 will be along in a few moments and he'll release the ray shields . . ." Anakin said. Looking over at Obi Wan who just shook his head. R2 then chose that time to enter, bashing into the opposite wal and taking a minute to compose himself. "See! No problem." Anakin said as several doorways opened to reveal destroyers. R2 tried to zap one of the droids, who in turn got kicked over.
Obi Wan looked over to Anakin, "Do you have a plan B?"
Anakin merely smiled and said, "What do we always do?" Obi Wan got his drift and also smiled.
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The four of them stood before the alien droid on the ships bridge. " Oh yes. General Kenobi, the 'Negotiator.' We've been waiting for you. That wasn't much of a rescue."
One of the droids walked over to the General and handed him the Jedi's light sabres.
"That depends upon your point of view." Obi Wan countered.
"And Anakin Skywalker ... I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little older," Grevious said turning to Anakin, "So sorry to hear you're alive."
"General Grievous . . . Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. You're shorter than I expected," Anakin said, looking the giant droid up and down.
"Ahhhh, Jedi scum . . ." Grevious bit off.
"Anakin, try not to upset him. We have a job to do," Obi Wan warned.
"Your light sabres will make a fine addition to my collection," Grevious said looking the sabres over.
"Not this time. And this time you won't escape," Obi Wan said.
"R2..." Anakin signalled. R2 created the distraction by extending all his arms and sending electrical pulses all over the room. Obi Wan, his hands restrained, spun round, reached out and using the Force, yanked his light sabre out of Grevious' hands and ignited it. He cut his bonds and then turned to cut Anakin's.
"Crush them! Make them suffer!" Grevious said enraged as Anakin telekinetically moved his light sabre to his hand. The droids surrounding them began to fire. The bridge turned into a chaotic mess as Obi Wan and Anakin were locked in battle with Grevious' electro staff wielding bodyguards. The Chancellor was taken away by two battle droids as Grevious walked around the bridge directing his droids. "Stay and watch your stations."
Obi Wan fought one of the bodyguards. When his light sabre hit the staff electrical bolts flew everywhere, but he was unable to cut the staff. He got hit a couple of times and was knocked across the bridge when he got his act together and sliced the droids head off, but the bodyguard kept on coming. Anakin was also struggling to defend himself against the other droid bodyguard. He eventually managed to cut the droid in half and then went after the Chancellor. In the hallway Anakin destroyed the droids and rescued the Chancellor. Obi Wan had at that time managed to finish the bodyguard and leave it in pieces.
The alarms then sounded as the ship began to fall out of orbit. "Sir, we are falling out of orbit. All aft control cells are dead," the pilot screamed to the General.
"Stay on course . . . Don't bother with them. Keep the ship in orbit." Grevious roared as Anakin and Obi Wan destroyed the remaining droids. Grevious managed to retrieve one of the staffs and faced Obi Wan as Anakin leapt over the console and landed behind Grevious. "You lose, General Kenobi."
"The ship is breaking up!" the pilot said as he came to stand next to Grevious.
"We've run out of time." he said.
Obi Wan tried to get at Grevious with Anakin approaching from the other side. Grevious turned and threw his electrified staff through one of the windows causing it to break and everything being sucked out to space. He let a cable loose from his arm which attached itself to the side of the ship. Grevious swung out and landed on the outside of the ship. Anakin, Palpatine and Obi Wan held on tightly to something nailed down as the blast shields closed.
With the shields down and everything stable Obi Wan started attacking the droids and cornering them. He then joined Anakin as they cut through the rest as if they were made of butter. Palpatine stood to the side in shock watching the carnage. Obi Wan and Anakin were back to back as they cut down the last of the droids. Just as they finished an alarm went off along with a load shudder. Sparks began to fly outside the windows.
"The hull is burning up!" Palpatine said.
Obi Wan and Anakin went over to the navigators chair. "All the escape pods have been launched," Anakin said studying the ships readouts.
"Grievous. Can you fly a cruiser like this?" Obi Wan asked.
"You mean, do I know how to land what's left of this thing?" Anakin said getting into the pilot's chair and watched the screen as the back half of the ship broke away. There was a great jolt as the ship lurched forward.
"Well?" Obi Wan asked.
"Under the circumstances," he said looking at Obi Wan, "I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant. Strap yourselves in."
Obi Wan and Palpatine obediently srapped themselves in. Anakin began his struggle with the controls of the ship. Bit's broke off as the entered the atmosphere and R2 moved over to Palpatines chair and started to assist.
"Steady . . . Attitude . . . eighteen degrees," Obi Wan said, looking at the screens in front of him. R2 beeped.
"Pressure rising. We've got to slow this wreck down. Open all hatches, extend all flaps, and drag fins," Anakin said, concentrating on the ships drag.
"Temp steady. Hatches open, flaps extended, drag fins . . ." Obi Wan said as they felt another bump.
"We lost something," Anakin said.
"Not to worry, we're still flying half the ship," Obi Wan said with false optimism.
"Now we're really picking up speed . . . I'm going to shift a few degrees and see if I can slow us down," Anakin said adjusting the steering.
"Careful . . . we're heating up-twelve thousand . . . thirteen thousand . . ." Obi Wan said keeping an eye on the dials.
"What's our speed?" Anakin said, trying to steer.
"Eight plus sixty-forty. Eight plus sixty-twenty. Eight plus sixty. Temp ten thousand, nine thousand . . . we're in the atmosphere . . ." Obi Wan counted down.
Anakin pointed at one of the controls as R2 beeped madly. "Grab that . . . Keep us level," he said to R2.
"Steady. Steady."
"Easy, R2. Hang on, this may get a little rough. We lost our heat shields," Anakin said.
"Five thousand. Three thousand . . . two thousand. Fireships on the left and the right." Obi Wan said as they came in.
"We'll take you in," a fire pilot said over a com.
"Copy that. Landing strip's straight ahead," Obi Wan said.
"We're coming in too hot," Anakin said.
"Easy-easy," Obi Wan cautioned. The ship streaked across the skyline as Palpatine and Obi Wan held on for dear life as the ship rattled and shook towards a landing platform. Anakin managed to land it as they were surrounded by fire fighters. It was a hard landing. "Another happy landing," Obi Wan said as they breathed sighs of relief.
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I'm sorry for any silliness that may have slipped through, i don't know what was wrong with me, too much sugar probably, this serious, (well as serious as it can be) story nearly made a severe turn to the show offiness of some of the moves and how synchronized Anakin and Obi Wan were at certain points. If it ruined the story, I do apologise. There is no excuse.