Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. This one will finish up the Battle of Coruscant.
Let's get to it.
Guest DCDGojira: You'll find out soon enough which country will meet the Wookiees. It won't be super important to the plot though. Won't spoil anything with Aayla or Luminara. As for Fives, he's still on Earth, and as far as the Republic knows, he's still in treatment for his psychological issues. You'll find out soon enough what he's actually been up to. As for the fight on Mustafar, I'll try and do it justice. As for who'll know, the Council of Five (leaders of America, UK, France, Russia, and China) and the Terran Joint Command will know, as will some of the Jedi who survive Order 66.
CT7567Rules: Yes, Kit is one Jedi I will confirm will survive Order 66, given he's stationed on Earth Another Jedi will take his place in Mace's team he takes to arrest Palpatine. As for the other Jedi,I won't spoil it yet. And I had to have Anakin kill Dooku, as that was a crucial step in his turn to the dark side.
RandomFanAuthor: Well, Palpatine won't die in this story, but it will be satisfying when he does. Also, that "Dooky" was a typo, and I have fixed it.
Jayhawks: I haven't actually seen that. But, in any case, if I did everything with the Battle of Coruscant, it would probably cover 4 to 5 chapters, and I don't want to spend that long on a single battle. I'll definitely take those celebrity suggestions into account.
Chapter 61- Battle of Coruscant, Pt. 2
As the Invisible Hand makes its way through orbit, the TAS Invincible maneuvers into position, heading straight for Grievous' flagship.
"Prepare for attack!" Grievous declares.
As the Invincible moves closer, two flights of SFA-18 Hornets flies in, firing missiles at the side of the Invisible Hand facing the Invincible, destroying a number of the turbolasers on that side of the ship. Vulture droids try to pursue the Hornets, but a squadron of brand new SF-20 Tigershark interceptors destroy the Vultures.
The Invincible pulls alongside the Invisible Hand and opens fire. All Terran Venators had been outfitted with two more turbolaser turrets on the top of their hulls, and two more deck guns on each side of the ship than Republic Venators. And now the Invincible unleashes her firepower on the Invisible Hand.
On the bridge of the Invisible Hand, the captain calls out, "All batteries, fire! Fire!"
The Invisible Hand fires back with its remaining weapons, but a number of its turbolasers and deck guns have already been destroyed by the Hornets and the Invincible's turbolaser fire.
As the exchange of fire is beginning, Anakin, Hall, and Palpatine are standing in front of the elevator, with Anakin carrying the unconscious Obi Wan on his back. However, as they're standing there, the elevator is not coming.
"Elevator's not working," Anakin mutters.
Hall lifts up his commlink as they continue to hear explosions. "R2, activate elevator 3224," he says.
The trio waits for the elevator to finally activate. As they do, the Invincible lands several critical hits, and another flight of SFA-18s makes a run on the ship. The ship loses control, and begins to dive towards the planet below, leaving the Invincible behind, relatively lightly damaged.
Anakin, Hall, and Palpatine feel the change immediately. Anakin uses the Force to open the elevator doors, and the three manage to climb through and into the elevator shaft.
On the bridge, the captain orders, "Reverse stabilizers!"
"Reversing stabilizers," a droid responds as it does so.
The ship continues its nose dive towards Coruscant as Anakin, Hall, and Palpatine begin running down the elevator shaft, heading for the level they need.
On the bridge, the captain yells, "Magnetize! Magnetize!" The droids on the bridge do so, but still nothing.
Now, Grievous himself gives an order as he says, "Fire the emergency booster engines!"
The Invisible Hand's emergency booster engines fire, and the ship begins to slow down. It then begins to tilt back level. In the elevator shaft, Hall, Anakin, and Palpatine begin to feel it. On the bridge, a droid reports to Grievous, "We're levelling out, sir."
The Invisible Hand levels off completely. In the elevator shaft, the three feel the floor drop out from underneath them. Palpatine grabs onto Anakin's leg as the group begins sliding down the elevator shaft.
Anakin and Hall scan the wall as it flies past them, and spot some cables, grabbing hold of them before they get out of reach.
As they hold on, Obi Wan suddenly wakes up. Seeing the massive drop beneath him, he grabs hold of Anakin.
"Easy. We're in a bit of a situation here," Anakin says.
"Did I miss something?" Obi Wan asks.
"You could say that, General," Hall says.
Obi Wan looks up the shaft and says, "What is that?"
Everyone looks up, and sees the elevator car descending towards them at high speed.
"Uhh, oops," Anakin says. He manages to get his commlink close to his mouth and says into it, "R2. R2, shut down the elevator."
"We don't have time! Jump!" Hall says loudly, and he and Anakin let go. They go falling down the shaft as the car follows them.
Hall, Anakin, and Obi Wan all reach into their belts, pull out grappling hooks, and throw them. The three hooks wrap around a metal bar and catch, stopping them and throwing them all out a door in the shaft right before the elevator car zooms past them.
The four of them get back on their feet, and Obi Wan says, "Let's see if we can find anything in the hangar bay that's still flyable."
Anakin lifts his commlink up and says, "R2, get down here." He then starts off down the hallway, with Hall, Obi Wan, and Palpatine following behind him.
For several minutes, the four of them are just running down the hallway towards the hangar. Then, without warning, they're surrounded by ray shields, which force them to a stop.
"Ray shields," Anakin points out.
"Wait a minute. How did this happen? We're smarter than this!" Obi Wan exclaims.
"Apparently not," Anakin says.
"Thanks for insulting my intelligence, Skyguy," Hall says, smirking as he catches the glare Anakin shoots him. Hall is still the only member of the team to use the nickname Ahsoka gave him.
Anakin looks at Obi Wan and says, "I say patience."
"Patience?" Obi Wan asks sarcastically.
"Yes. R2 will be along in a few moments, and then, he'll release the ray shields," Anakin says.
A second later, they hear a door opening, then a loud whine as R2 comes hurtling into the hallway, slamming into the wall on the far side.
"See? No problem," Anakin says.
A moment later, two droidekas roll through the door R2 just came through and open up. A large formation B1 and B2 droids begin approaching from behind them, and a number of B2 droids emerge from the door next to R2.
"Don't move!" a B2 droid says as it holds its fist out, blasters ready. R2 shock the droid, making it jerk back, then kick R2 over.
"Got a plan B?" Hall asks.
The droids lower the ray shields and take their weapons, then bind their hands behind their backs. They then begin escorting them to the bridge.
About 15 minutes later, the four of them are led onto the bridge. As they are, General Grievous turns to look at them.
"Ahh. The negotiator. General Kenobi. We've been waiting for you," Grievous says.
A B1 droid walks past them, holding Anakin, Obi Wan, and Hall's lightsabers, and says, "Excuse me."
"That wasn't much of a welcome," Grievous says, snatching the lightsabers from the droid, who says, "You're welcome."
Grievous coughs a few times, then steps forward, towards Hall. "Ahh. The famous Colonel Hall. I was expecting someone of your reputation to be a little…more," he says.
Hall looks at Grievous very unimpressed. "General Grievous. Not only are you an a******, but you're shorter than I expected. I'm surprised my comrades found you such a challenge," Hall says.
Grievous coughs again, then says angrily, "Terran scum."
"We have a job to do, Colonel. Try not to upset him," Obi Wan says.
"Sorry, General. I can't help my attitude," Hall says with a smirk, making Obi Wan roll his eyes.
Grievous coughs again, then chuckles as he says, "Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection." As he says this, he sets the three sabers in his cloak.
"Not this time. And this time you won't escape," Obi Wan says. He then turns to Hall, and says, "Colonel."
Hall smirks, then brings his hands forward, having gotten out of the binders he had on him. He then lunges forward, jumps up, throws his arm around Grievous' head, swings around and yanks the cyborg general down. As Grievous is distracted, he grabs the three lightsabers, throwing Obi Wan's and Anakin's to them. Obi Wan and Anakin activate their sabers and cut each other free.
Grievous gets back up and smacks Hall away. He then orders his two Magnaguards, "Crush them! Make them suffer!"
One of the Magnaguards stalks towards Obi Wan, who attacks the droid. As the other stalks towards Anakin, Hall leaps towards it from the side, swinging his saber at its head. The Magnaguard raises its electrostaff to block Hall's attack, and attacks Hall back. Anakin, taking advantage of the reprieve, cuts down the droids attempting to take Palpatine back out of the bridge.
Hall swings his lightsaber furiously, blocking the droid's blows. Then, he gets lucky, and the droid strikes a little high. Hall deflects the blow upwards, then brings his saber down and cleaves the droid in half. Standing up a bit straighter, he looks around, just in time to see Obi Wan cut down the Magnaguard he's fighting.
Watching, Grievous says to the droids on the bridge, "Don't bother with them. Keep the ship in orbit."
However, they have to bother, as Anakin, Obi Wan, and Hall begin cutting down the battle droids on the bridge.
Pretty soon, the battle droids are all destroyed. Hall, Obi Wan, and Anakin then move to corner Grievous, who has grabbed a fallen electrostaff.
Grievous looks around at the three of them, then says, "You lose, General Kenobi." He throws the electrostaff at the viewport, which cracks, and then shatters.
Obi Wan, Anakin, Hall, and Palpatine all grab hold of anything they can to keep from being sucked out. Grievous does no such thing, and is sucked out into space. He then fires a grappling cable, which attaches to the hull of the ship, pulling him back to the ship. He then begins to crawl up the hull of the ship.
Meanwhile, on the bridge, the four are still holding on for dear life. Obi Wan manages to find a button and presses it, causing a metal shield to come down over the broken parts of the viewport. The wind sucking them out stops, and they fall to the ground.
They make their way over to a main control console, right as a beeping starts and explosions rack the ship from Terran and Republic fighters.
Anakin looks at the console, and says, "All the escape pods have been launched."
"Grievous," Hall says.
"Can you fly a cruiser like this?" Obi Wan asks.
"Do you mean 'Do I know how to land what's left of this thing'?" Anakin says as he walks over to the pilot's seat.
"Well?" Obi Wan asks.
"Well, under the circumstances, I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant. Strap yourselves in," Anakin says. Obi Wan, Hall, and Palpatine all sit down and strap themselves in.
Anakin turns to Obi Wan and says, "Open the hatches. Extend all flaps and drag fins." Obi Wan quickly does this as Anakin flips a few switches.
A few seconds later, there's a massive explosion, and the ship rocks as it shears in two.
On the bridge, everyone is shaken. R2 beeps out an "Uh-oh". Anakin looks back at Obi Wan and Hall, and says, "We lost something."
"Not to worry. We are still flying half a ship," Obi Wan says.
The ship noses down further, diving towards Coruscant. Anakin monitors the systems, then says, "Now we're really picking up speed."
The ship continues its dive, the forward sections heating up from the friction.
"Eight plus 60. We're in the atmosphere," Obi Wan says.
"Grab that. Keep us level," Anakin says as he points to a joystick.
The ship continues falling, well within the atmosphere. As they descend closer to the ground, R2 begins to beep rapidly. Anakin looks over at him and says, "Easy, R2."
Several fireships swoop in, pulling alongside the burning half of the Invisible Hand. As they do, Obi Wan says, "5,000. Fireships on the left and the right."
One of the fireship drivers says over the commlink, "We'll take you in."
"Copy that," Obi Wan replies. The fireship then begin spraying water on the burning parts of the ship.
Up ahead, Hall spots a landing strip. He points and says, "Landing strip, dead ahead."
"We're coming in too hot," Anakin says.
Anakin desperately tries to slow the ship. He manages to decrease the speed a little bit, but to ideal levels before the ship lands.
The ship hits the ground. The force of the crash landing throws Anakin, Obi Wan, Hall, and Palpatine forward in their seats, and R2 whines. The ship skids for several miles before finally coming to a screeching halt.
Everyone just sits still in their seats for a few moments. Then, Obi Wan smiles and says, "Another happy landing."
(Several hours later)
Hall stands up as the shuttle comes a stop at the Senate building. The Battle of Coruscant is now over, as the Separatist fleet finally retreated about an hour after the Invisible Hand crash landed at the landing strip. Now, he, Obi Wan, and Anakin are escorting Palpatine back to the Senate building.
As the shuttle comes to a stop, and the front door into it opens up, Hall walks out after the Chancellor, with Anakin right behind him.
As they both step out of the shuttle, they see Obi Wan hasn't followed them out. Hall looks at Obi Wan and asks, "Coming, General?"
"Oh, no. I'm not brave enough for politics. I have to report to the Council. Besides, I think Anakin needs to be the poster boy," Obi Wan says.
"Hold on. This whole operation was your idea," Anakin says.
"Let us not forget, Anakin, that you rescued me from the buzz droids. And you killed Count Dooku, and you rescued the Chancellor, carrying me unconscious on your back," Obi Wan says.
"Wait. Why does he get all the credit?" Hall asks with a grin on his face.
Anakin and Obi Wan just shoot him an amused side glance before Anakin says to Obi Wan, "It was all because of your training."
"Anakin, let's be fair. Today you, and Colonel Hall, were the heroes, and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians," Obi Wan says.
Anakin smirks and says, "Okay. But you owe me one, and not for saving your a** for the tenth time."
Hall smirks at Anakin. "Wow, Skyguy. I think we Terrans have been a bad influence on you. You've developed a bit of a mouth," he says, and Anakin shoots him an amused look.
"That and its just nine times. That business on Cato Neimoidia doesn't count," Obi Wan says. He pauses for a second, then says, "I'll see you at the briefing." He then steps back, and the door closes. The shuttle then leaves the platform.
As Anakin and Hall walk over to where the main group is gathered around Palpatine, Hall sees Captain Adams standing a few yards away from the main group. "Excuse me," he says before walking over his commander.
"Sam," he says he approaches Adams.
"Hey, Tyler. How'd it go?" Adams asks.
"Good. Finally got to fight Count Dooku, but Skywalker finished him off. But, Grievous escaped. So now we have to hunt him down," Hall says.
Adams nods once. "Well, I'll alert Command. Grievous won't be able to hide for long," he says.
Hall nods, then says in a low voice, "But, we have a new problem. Or rather, more to an old problem. During our fight with Dooku, Palpatine pressured Skywalker to kill Dooku. I tried to tell him not to, but Skywalker listened to Palpatine. And the manner in which Palpatine spoke to Skywalker…I feel even more strongly that our suspicions about him are right. I know the Kidon were hoping to wait until he did something that might make more in the Republic suspicious of him before trying anything, but I don't think we can wait much longer."
Adams nods solemnly. Then, he says, "I'm gonna head back to HQ here on Coruscant and contact General Powell. I want you back at the Temple."
Hall nods and heads off to find a shuttle to take him to the Jedi Temple. Adams, however, stares after Palpatine, then starts heading over to where the shuttle he took here is waiting to take him to Terran Coruscant HQ.
However, as Adams walks, he suddenly stops, hearing the faintest sound of voices. As he does, he glances in the direction of the voices. And, to his surprise, he sees Anakin standing with Padme. And as he watches, Anakin leans in and kisses her.
Adams stares at the sight, then a very slight grin crosses his face. "Well, this explains a lot," he says. He pauses for a moment, then says, "Anakin Skywalker. I knew you were rebellious. But this is a whole new level." Again, he pauses, then says, "This is either going to end well, or really, really bad." He then turns and walks away towards the shuttle.
And, there we go. I hope you liked it.
I hope you liked the little exchange between Hall and Grievous, and how Hall took down Grievous. I thought it was time for some real bad***ery from an ASAT member.
So, yes. Adams found out the truth. Although, honestly, I'm surprised nobody saw Anakin and Padme during their reunion. Now, Adams isn't going to reveal it to everybody. One or two more ASAT members might learn the truth before Anakin's turn to the dark side. But, after Anakin turns, Adams will be the only person besides Obi Wan and Yoda to know exactly what happened to him.
So, next chapter will be up within a week or so. I want to start devoting more time to building up the wiki, so I may spend less time writing the story over the next few weeks. I hope you'll be patient with me if updates start coming less frequently.
Until the next chapter, leave a review, and stay tuned!