Note: Sorry it took so long to update, but I was really busy with schoolwork and other stuff lately.

Mace rested his head in his hands as he sat on a bench in his small quarters in the public shuttle to Ruan. He had finally elaborated his plan. He had opted against the option of taking on both Sith Lords together. A heroic death wouldn't avoid the fact that the Sith would achieve final victory over the Jedi, which was an unacceptable idea. He would have to exert caution and great care in his planning. That was why he was headed to Ruan, one of the closest planets to Coruscant. From there he would be able to monitor their activities, and however gruesome they were, he would only allow himself to strike when one was alone. By selecting Ruan, he would be able to stay at the same time close enough to be able to land upon the Sith Lords within a day, but he would have to remain under cover during his stay. Ruan was, of course, a Republic-controlled planet. Mace had smuggled himself onto the shuttle the same way he intended to smuggle himself out and stay hidden. He wouldn't commit the stupid error of allowing himself to be caught to expect getting near the Sith Lords. The clones would likely execute him on sight. As for the spike he created in the Force…well, Mace simply had to hope for the best. With the Sith Lords busy as they were, he hoped they would not detect him. Besides, however attuned one is to the Force, from a planet such as Coruscant, it is quite difficult to focus on a single entity of the Force. So many billions come and go each day, and many millions are strong with the Force…though the infinite majority of them don't know it. If Mace was detected, well, he would fight. But he knew that in order to win he had to bring the battle under his own terms.

He sat there on his bench, thinking, as the shuttle rocketed into Ruan's atmosphere. Coruscant glowed in the sky, brighter than any other star. The ship descended through the turbulent atmosphere and the light of Ruan's lone sun rapidly faded to semi-darkness as the shuttle passed beneath cloud level. The vessel rocked as it tumbled downwards, and Mace casually glanced out his viewport to see they were approaching a massive landing field a few miles out of an even larger city. This planet must be the "suburb" of Coruscant, in some sort. Mace got up, flattened his robes, and exited his quarters. Time to get off this shuttle before passenger inspection.

The six hundred meter long public craft landed heavily but gracefully on its repulsors before settling neatly to the ground. Pressure valves hissed in relief and it was a general commotion inside, as everyone pushed toward the exits, waiting for the ramps to come down. When they finally did, all the passengers got their first glimpse of Ruan. Some had been here before, and just walked down as if it were habit. Others were exalted, others yet were politely curious. The mob marched down the three large boarding ramps that covered the side of the mammoth vessel, onto the tarmac where a detachment of clone troopers stood waiting. They began inspecting the passengers and clearing them for safe entry onto Ruan, with the Emperor's welcome. In the general commotion, no one saw the cloaked figure slip out of the rearmost hatch and disappear behind the ramp. Mace Windu ran furtively across the tarmac, a little uneasy in this wide open space. Dozens of other ships were parked on the field, ranging from small freighters to public transport shuttle such as the one he had just taken. A menacing Imperial battle cruiser lay at the far end of the strip, as if waiting for any smaller ship to step out of line. Mace hid behind the landing gear of a small freighter and peered around. Clones were all over the place. AT-TE walkers guarded the edges of the landing field, squads patrolled at intervals of perhaps three hundred meters only. The whole landing field and its facilities must have been at least eight kilometers long by five wide. Mace ducked as he heard a small humming sound approaching. He peeked around the landing gear and saw a small hovercraft approaching. It halted a few meters from the ship, and a humanoid alien with blue-tinted skin stepped out of the cabin and walked up to the freighter's outer control panel. He tipped in a few buttons, and a second later a small hatch lowered, leading up into the ship's hold. The alien raised a small device in its hand, and four small repair droids sprang to life on the back of the hovercraft. They scampered into the hold and came out moments later, laden with several heavy crates, which they dutifully pilled into the back compartment of the hovercraft. After three similar journeys, the droids simply returned to their original position in the back of the truck and, at an alien's touch of a button, snapped back into sleep mode. The alien, humming to himself, climbed back into the cabin and began moving the craft away. Mace didn't waste a split second. Crouching, he ran up the back of the hovercraft as it left and leapt up between two stacks of crates. There he crouched, watching the landing strip zoom by him as the hovercraft made for some sort of storage hangar.

The small vessel pulled into a massive hangar, filled with hundreds of crates and boxes and cages. The place was fairly deserted in comparison with the strip, being occupied only by a few security personnel. A few droids walked here and there, carrying crates, but aside from them the hangar seemed empty. The hovercraft settled down and Mace immediately leapt off and melted into the shadows. A few seconds later and the repair droids were busy staking up the crates in piles, while the alien waited patiently for them to finish their chores. At the click of a button they switched off, and he was off to the staff quarters. Mace waited a full five minutes, hardly breathing, to make sure no one was near. Finally, peering left and right, he moved away silently through the shadows.

Mace sat at the bar in a small dingy pub, brooding over his drink, keeping a clear mind amidst the tense atmosphere around him. The place was dark, and a dense smoke hovered down to about four feet off the ground. The population was for the most part humanoid, and any alien with eccentric biology would tend to huddle in one the small booths that bordered the room. The barman that had served Mace was a burly untrusting rodian, who kept throwing him suspicious looks. It was pretty much the last place in the galaxy one would expect to find a Jedi Master in, but here he was. He was at the threshold of the Empire, a mere system away from the two Sith Lords. He sat there, mulling over his thoughts, about how he was going to monitor them, how he would attack when his time came, and ultimately, how he could possibly bring life back to the almost extinct Jedi Order. As he rummaged around in his mind, a string of conversation caught his attention. It was a remarkable ability of his, to be able to pick up a few words amid a jumble of languages in a particularly noisy pub, but these ones sounded out to him loud and clear.

"You heard about that imperial project in the despayre system?"

"Nah, what's up? A new flagship I bet? The Acclamator-Class is getting outdated I heard. Pirates in the outer rim already have stuff that can out power them."

"Nah you don't get it man, I'm not talking about any fleet, I'm talking about some sort of ultimate weapon."

"What do ya mean?"

"It can bloody blow up planets man! At least it's what I heard. An imp officer got drunk in here a week ago and started blabbing his head off about it to me…haven't seen him since. He called it the Death Star"

"Death Star, eh? Sure sounds imposing enough, but the part about blowing up planets is crap man, no fleet in the universe could gather such firepower."

"I swear it! This guy was drunk but he knew his subject! He said the imp researchers managed to control some new sort of nuclear fusion reactor a few years ago, and that when the power is unleashed in a certain fashion, it creates a beam that connects with planet's core, superheats them, and makes the whole planet blow up! If you think about it, it sounds just like Palp, too. Imagine anyone standing in his way after that."

"Geez, man…"

Mace sat there, not moving a muscle, listening for more. Nothing came. He stared at the reddish liquid in his glass with empty eyes, his mind no longer calm and empty but racing as fast as a starfighter. He was going so fast he was tripping over his own thoughts and getting tangled in them. He breathed out and tried to compose himself. He couldn't tell if what he had just heard was true, but something inside his stomach churned whenever that thought crossed his mind. He would have to verify…the same twisting sensation inside him. It was true, it had to be. He had almost never felt such stress before. A weapon that could destroy planets meant limitless power, which would be just what the Sith had always been looking for. He could not allow it. Not only in the name of the Jedi but in the name of all living things. With the Sith wielding a planet-destroying weapon, no system could hope to be free ever again. He had reached his conclusion before he even knew it. He stood up briskly, tossed a couple of coins onto the bar and strode out. He walked briskly, and the breeze made his cloak flutter behind him. He was heading to the spaceport. Again. He couldn't allow the Sith this power, even if it meant sacrificing himself to stop them. If this were to be the end of the Order, so be it.

After having informed himself at the nearest travel station, Mace hurried over onto the tarmac where the nearest ship at destination of Coruscant was waiting. He was going to the capital city. He was going to put and end to the Sith menace now, or die trying. Knowing he didn't have time enough to hide aboard the ship as he had done on his way on-planet, he made use of one of his finest Jedi skills which was to dissimulate himself from the sight of the weak minded. The clone troopers, being but replicas of an original being, were not exactly bright and were easily fooled by the trick. Mace boarded the shuttle without trouble and settled into a passenger compartment, waiting for take off. He hadn't even had time to reflect on how he was going to engage his enemy. Everything had gone so fast, he had no time. Time was working against him. As the shuttle finally took off, Mace addressed a silent prayer to the Force, and fell into a deep meditation.

In his high tower overlooking the capital city, the cloaked figure smiled to himself.

"Lord Vader" He murmured.

"Yes, Master" The metallic voice answered.

"He is coming."