Chapter 12 Under Siege

"Stay down." Zak ordered as he rolled off the Chancellor and pulled his lightsaber from his belt.

"Zak, stay put." Mace told him.

Zak obeyed, but activated his lightsaber and crouched down protectively in front of the Chancellor. By now, the whole courtroom was in chaos. Spectators, trying to get away from the assault were jamming the exits in an effort to escape. Amedda sat passively, seemingly unconcerned for his own safety; Lord Grel was nowhere in sight. The Lord Advocate had crawled underneath his bench and Lord Borlac was crouched under the partial protection of his own table. Blaster fire continued to fill the room until one of the Jedi reached him and, pulling the blaster from his hand, threw him down on the ground.

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan gasped.

"Yeah." Anakin answered.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I think so; are you?" Anakin asked.

"Well, I would be…"

"What is it; are you hit?" Anakin asked slightly alarmed.

"No…but.."

"But?"

"I can't breath, Anakin; you're crushing the life out of me." Obi-Wan said in his usual calm manner.

"Oh, sorry." Anakin said as he quickly scrambled off his best friend. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh?"

"Look." Anakin said as he showed Obi-Wan his hand.

"Anakin, you were hit." Obi-Wan replied in alarm.

"No, it's not my blood, it's yours." He answered.

"No, I don't think so." Obi-Wan countered.

"Yes, it is; I'm sorry." Anakin said regretfully.

"You're sorry; why?" Obi-Wan wondered.

"When I knocked you down, I must have reopened your shoulder." Anakin told him.

Obi-Wan could feel the warm wetness spreading down his back, and realized Anakin was right; but he smiled anyway and said, "Well, it's better than taking a blaster bolt to the chest."

"Maybe, but Declan's going to be very grumpy!" Anakin said with a laugh.

But the danger was not over; before Anakin could help Obi-Wan into a sitting position, another bolt from a different direction nearly took his head off, "Blast, I thought it was over." He said as he attempted to move Obi-Wan to a safer place.

"Never mind me, Anakin. Just stop him." Obi-Wan told him.

"But you have no cover here." Anakin argued.

"Neither do you, but if you catch that guy, we won't have to worry about it. Just go." Obi-Wan insisted.

"Obi-Wan…"

"Go, Anakin." Obi-Wan ordered.

Anakin nodded; reluctantly he understood Obi-Wan was right; this had to end…now.

"May the Force be with you, then, my friend." He told Obi-Wan as he pulled his lightsaber out and crawled forward to see if he could find the shooter.

Meanwhile, Zak found himself in a similar dangerous position. Lord Grel had suddenly appeared and was attempting to free Amedda while holding Zak at bay with his own blaster. Mace had already gone to help secure the first assailant and Zak was left on his own to deal with this new threat. Chancellor Organa, before the second assault began, had been removed from the room along with the Lord Advocate and Lord Borlac. Amedda had been left in place because it was believed he could not escape. No one could have guessed that Lord Grel would attempt to free him.

"I won't let you do this, Lord Grel." Zak said.

"Oh, how are you going to stop me?" Grel answered.

"How do you think, I'm a Jedi." Zak stated.

"Oh, yes, a Jedi; are you going to use the Force, Zak? You never did show me, did you." Grel said tauntingly. "Come on, prove that this so-called Force actually exists."

"Alright, you wanted proof; here's your proof." Zak said as he brought his hands up and 'pushed'.

Grel staggered back several steps as if he had been hit.

"Oh, yes, that's very impressive. But that little push cannot stop this." Grel responded as he brought his blaster up once again, pointed it at Zak and fired.

Anakin had spotted his shooter and carefully made his way around in order to come up behind him. The sniper continued to rain blaster fire on Obi-Wan's position.

Obi-Wan, lightsaber in hand, was busy trying to deflect the blaster fire that seemed to be directed at him. He had lost track of Zak and hoped that the boy had listened to his earlier order to find cover. "Anakin, where is Zak?" He sent out. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Anakin's answer. "With Amedda." Obi-Wan felt helpless; pinned down, he had no way to reach Zak. He had no Force connection with him, not yet; the partnership was too new. He could not even send him encouragement or instructions. "Be safe, Zak."

Anakin was torn; should he go on and take down the sniper that was still a great threat to Obi-Wan who had very little cover, or should he try to save Obi-Wan's brave young Padawan? If he chose to take on the sniper, he would end that danger; but then what about Zak? On the other hand, if he did not stop the sniper, Obi-Wan might die. But did Zak need to be saved? He was young but very well trained. Anakin made his decision, he would go for the sniper and leave Zak's fate the will of the Force.

Outside the courtroom, the injured spectators were being treated. A few had been hit by blaster fire, but most of the injuries had happened in the ensuing panic to reach the door. Lord Borlac had been injured, but it was not serious; however, his assistant had not been that lucky, he was dead. One of the spectators had also died and another had been mortally wounded and was not expected to last the rest of the day. The Chancellor and the Lord Advocate were both shaken but uninjured. Padme was arguing frantically with Master Windu. She wanted desperately to go in to see if Anakin was safe.

"But, Master Windu, please…" She pleaded.

"I am sorry, Padme; no one can get in." Mace told her firmly.

"Why not? I thought you caught him." She replied.

"We did, but his was just the initial assault." Mace answered.

"Initial assault? I don't understand…" Padme said.

"There was a second assailant; it happened only moments after we managed to get everyone safely out of the room. Another Jedi and I had the first shooter in custody and could not help." Mace replied.

"Then you should be in there, helping him." Padme protested.

"We have tried; the door has been jammed from the inside. One of our Knights started to cut through with his lightsaber, but it is shielded and he was knocked off his feet. He is very lucky it didn't kill him." Mace explained.

"But he could be dead, Master Windu." She cried.

"Anakin is not the only one in there, Padme. Obi-Wan and Zak are trapped in there with him." Mace answered.

"But why, Master Windu?" Padme asked.

"Because we never got the chance to go back and get Mas Amedda out. My guess is the first assault was a diversion to clear the courtroom so that Amedda would be left unguarded and it worked." Mace informed her.

"Then we must do something; anything." Padme said desperately.

"We have sent for technicians to see if they can disable the shielding so that we can cut through the door. There is nothing else we can do except wait." Mace answered. "I am sorry, Padme; we were prepared for one; we did not expect this."

"Then you're blaming Anakin for this? Because he only saw one in his vision?" Padme assumed.

"Padme, I never said that. Anakin told us what he saw. If he had seen two assailants, he would have said that. We are certainly not laying any blame for this on him." Mace assured her.

"I'm sorry, Master Windu; I just can't…" She could not finish and started to cry.

"It will be alright, Padme. You know Anakin, everything will turn out." Mace said as he tried to comfort her.

Fortunately, the Chancellor, who had been standing nearby, came over and put his arm around Padme's shoulders, "It's alright, Padme. He'll be alright." He said soothingly as he led her over to a vacant spot against the wall.

"I should have been there; I should have been with him. What will I do, Bail?" She sobbed.

"What will you do? He is not dead, Padme." Bail told her.

"You don't know that; he could be; they could all be…" Again, she could not finish.

"No; it's…how did they put it, during the Clone War…ah yes, Kenobi and Skywalker. Together, they were unbeatable; remember?" Bail said as he pushed her gently to the floor. "Would you like to go back to the Jedi Temple to be with your children?"

"No, I can't go anywhere until…"

"Alright, then you just sit here; and I will sit with you." Bail said as he sat down next to her.

Obi-Wan was tiring. His recent fever and now the blood loss from his freshly opened shoulder wound were taking their toll. He knew he could not continue much longer. "Hurry, Anakin." He thought as blaster fire came dangerous close to hitting him.

"I am, Obi-Wan. Just hold on a little longer." He thought back. Carefully, he moved up and around the sniper until he was almost directly behind and above him before he made his way down. Then he stepped on something lying on the floor. 'Crunch!'

"Oops." He said aloud.

The sniper whirled around and fired at Anakin who barely managed to avoid being hit square in the face as the bolt grazed his cheek. Angrily he reached out with the Force for the blaster and it was pulled from the shooter's hand. The assailant looked down at his empty hand in shock and barely registered the fact that he was now lying face down on the floor. After Anakin had the blaster, he had Force pushed the shooter to the ground. Now, he bent down and turned him over; and was shocked to see Jango Fett's face staring back at him. He looked down to the center of the courtroom; Zak's battle was over.

Zak easily deflected that first shot, and it ricocheted harmlessly into the floor. Grel fired again, but again Zak deflected the bolt, this time coming close to hitting Amedda, who was still secured to his chair.

"Careful, you fool, that was too close." Amedda said.

But Grel was undeterred and fired again, and yet again, Zak deflected it. Amedda gave a sudden cry of surprise and Grel turned to look. Blue blood was oozing from a hole in Amedda's chest, a look of shock on his face.

"I told you to be careful, you…." Amedda fell forward off the chair, one arm still secured to the ring in the chair.

Grel let out a feral cry and turned on Zak, firing continuously and, at the same time, advancing toward him.

Zak held his ground, deflecting each shot that came at him, while Grel came closer and closer.

"Stop it, Lord Grel; I don't want to hurt you." He warned.

But Grel kept right on coming until he was within range of Zak's lightsaber.

"Please, my lord; don't make me do this." He pleaded.

"You think you can hurt me; you are just a boy, I can kill you where you stand." He answered as he moved ever closer.

"I'm begging you, sir. I don't want to do this, please." Zak said.

When Grel was close enough, he made a lunge at Zak. Zak countered by swinging his lightsaber enough to singe Grel's outer tunic. However, instead of retreating, Grel lunged again.

"Stop it, please." Zak implored.

Grel was past reason now and leaped at Zak in an attempt to knock the boy off his feet. Zak did the only thing left for him to do. He swung his lightsaber, the blade hit Grel's hip. Grel dropped ungracefully to the ground. Zak had cut right through his pelvic bone leaving a deep wound. Remarkably, Grel had managed to hold on to his blaster and enraged, tried to fire at Zak. Instinctively, Zak swung at the blaster, but his aim was off and along with the blaster came Grel's hand.