Obi-Wan didn't resist as the droids took his lightsaber, pulled his arms behind his back and fastened binders around his wrists - he was too busy kicking himself. 'This mission has been one disaster after another from the start. What's wrong with me? I'm better than this!'

'Apparently not' Anakin's voice echoed in his head as the droids herded them forward. Followed by the voice of his wife, Sabe, light and teasing: 'A bad wound to your vanity eh, General?'

He grinned inwardly. 'Yes indeed, sweetheart. High time you got over yourself, Obi-Wan Kenobi!' laughing silently at his own pretensions he let go of his disgruntlement and nascent fear and opened himself fully to the Force. It would show him the way.

By the time he was marched onto the bridge to face Grievous he had forgotten fears and plans and forgotten himself. He stood passive, serene, willing to let the confrontation unfold as it would.

Anakin wasn't anywhere near as calm. He wasn't afraid for himself, or for Obi-Wan, they'd been in worse fixes plenty of times. He was afraid for Palpatine, powerless, vulnerable and very, very frightened. Anakin struggled to shut out his awareness of the Chancellor's fear. It was a distraction, damaging his ability to protect his friend and mentor.

Instead he tried to focus on their opposition. There were several Neimoidians at the consoles and at least a score of ordinary battle-droids, none of whom would pose much of a problem. But the same couldn't be said for the super-battle droids and destroyers, that surrounded them. Or the half-dozen tall, lanky droids armed with energy staffs backing Grievous, his infamous magna guards. 'This does not look good.'

"Ahhhh...the negotiator. General Kenobi." Grievous practically purred. He was a cyborg, more machine now than living being, but with all his former initiative, creativity - and viciousness. His skeletal mechanical body was swathed in a swirling cloak and he towered over them all, droid and lifeforms alike, his skull mask some three meters above the deck.

"Excuse me." a battle droid edged past Obi-Wan to offer their lightsabers to the General who snatched them without taking his evil yellow eyes from his prisoners. "You're welcome."

"That wasn't much of a rescue." Grievous sneered. Obi-Wan simply tilted his head back to look tranquilly up at his captor. Who, disappointed by the lack of reaction, turned to the other Jedi. "And Anakin Skywalker... I'd have expected some one with your reputation to be a little - older."

Anakin turned his face pointedly away to avoid the cyborg's fetid breath. "General Grievous. You're shorter than I'd expected."

He didn't like that one bit. "Jedi scum!" he snarled.

Obi-Wan sighed. "We have a job to do here, Anakin. Try not to irritate him."

Glancing back at his partner Anakin caught a glimpse of the Chancellor's ashen face. Obi-Wan was right, the angrier Grievous was the more dangerous he was - to all of them.

But the General had recovered himself. He opened his cloak revealing four lightsabers, trophies taken from dead Jedi. "I look forward to adding your lightsabers to my collection." he purred.

Anakin tensed with anger in spite of himself, but Obi-Wan was unmoved. "We can resolve this situation without further violence." he said, all gentle reason. "I am willing to accept your surrender."

Anakin let his head drop. That was Obi-Wan - a diplomat to the end.

Grievous recoiled with another snarl of mingled anger and astonishment. So much for not irritating him. "Surrender! I will kill you now, with your own blade!"

Anakin didn't have to see Obi-Wan's smile, he could hear it in that deceptively mild voice. "Oh, I don't think so."

"Artoo now!" Anakin cried. And at the little droid cut loose with everything he had from cutter-welder to smoke screen. As startled guard droids redirected their attention towards this unexpected assault Obi-Wan called his saber to him, tearing it right out of Grievous' grip, ignited it and cut through both his own bonds and Anakin's.

The latter spared a nano-second to admire the precision of his friend's control then he was reaching out with the Force to rip his own lightsaber from Grievous' cloak and attack the nearest pair of super-battle droids.

"Kill them, make them suffer!" Grievous shouted, waving his magna-guards forward. These were the real threat, Anakin recognized, with their energy staffs. The bridge droids were unarmed and the super-battle droids and destroyers knew better than to fire their weapons here, surrounded by the ships controls.

"Anakin, help!" turning he saw Palpatine being dragged towards the bridge doors by three battle droids. He vaulted the consoles in his way just as the shield doors opened to admit two tall robed figures with green and blue lightsabers burning in their hands.

Master Dooku swiftly struck down the droids holding the Chancellor. "Boy am I glad to see you!" Anakin panted, then he noticed something odd. "Why are you all wet."

"Not now, Anakin!"

Qui-Gon hurtled over the consoles to dismember one of the two magna guards threatening Obi-Wan. His former Padawan sliced the second in to sections and demanded. "Where have you been?"

"We had a few problems."

"Us too." Anakin said, Force throwing a super-battle droid into the teeth of a pair of destroyers, demolishing all three - and an auxiliary console as well. 'Maybe this isn't the best place for a battle.'

"So we saw." Dooku agreed, blocking blaster fire from a destroyer that had apparently forgotten its programming. "Chancellor, take cover!"

"Where?" Palpatine asked helplessly staring around at the pandemonium.

He had a point. "Very well, stay close to me." Dooku said crisply. "Anakin, protect the Chancellor's right."

"You got it, Master." he answered, cutting the arms off a charging super-battle droid then cutting it in half. "Don't worry, your excellency, we've got everything under control."

Fortunately Anakin was too busy to see the look of sheer disbelief Palpatine gave him.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan cut their way through Grievous' screen of magna guards to engage the General himself. He leapt over the navigation console to escape them, bent to pick up a fallen energy staff and straightened to find himself bracketed by the two Jedi.

"You may want to reconsider my offer of surrender." Obi-Wan said with flawless courtesy.

But Grievous had other ideas. "You loose, General Kenobi!" he cried and ran his staff full force into the bridge window at his back. The transparasteel cracked then shattered. The air screamed out, taking Grievous and assorted bits and pieces with him while the Jedi and their charge held on to the consoles for the few seconds it took the emergency shutters to close.

"That was unexpected." Obi-Wan panted.

"It was suicide!" said Anakin, genuinely astonished. Grievous hadn't seemed the death before dishonor type.

"Not for a cyborg." Dooku said grimly. "I fear we haven't seen the last of the General."

All the magna guards, super-battle droids and destroyers were spare parts. The surviving Neimoidians led the stampede off the bridge followed by their droids..

"Let them go!" Qui-Gon ordered.

Anakin hit the control sealing the blast doors behind them. "Okay, now what?"

"I thought we were making for the escape pods." the Chancellor contributed timidly.

At that moment the ship shuddered under multiple blasts and an indicator panel flashed red. "All the escape pods have been launched." Obi-Wan reported.

"Grievous, no doubt." said Dooku calmly.

"No doubt." Obi-Wan agreed. "Anakin," he beckoned his friend down to the flight station. "Can you pilot this type of cruiser?"

Anakin looked at the array of flashing red alarms in front of him and answered dryly:

"Under the circumstances I'd say the ability to pilot this ship is irrelevant. Strap yourselves in."

No sooner had his companions done so when the vessel gave an alarming jounce. "That wasn't me!" Anakin protested, raising his hands high to prove it. "I haven't touched anything yet."

"I believe," Palpatine said with the distant calm of a man in shock, "I believe we are being fired on."

"Yup." Anakin confirmed, eyes on the readouts. "Can you do something about that, Master Dooku?"

"I can try." his fine, aristocratic hands moved over the battered comm console. "Attention all ships, this is Fleet Marshal Dooku. We are in control of the 'Invisible Hand' cease fire at once."

"Yes sir!" a trim young officer appeared on the screens. "This is Lt. Commander Needa aboard the 'Integrity', Marshal, do you have further orders, sir?"

"Stand down the surface defense system." Dooku replied crisply. "We are going to need fire ships and a heavy duty landing strip, as far from the populated sectors as possible. This is not going to be a landing but a controlled crash."

"Will do, sir. Can you give us a vector?"

"Anakin?"

"Course three three aught twelve niner." he reported after a glance at a screen. "I'll do my best to hold her steady but I can't make any guarantees."

"Did you get that, Lt. Commander?"

"Yes sir."

Dooku switched off. Neither he nor the others aboard realized the Holo-networks had gotten a lock on their communications frequency and were transmitting video of the wrecked bridge and its occupants all over Couruscant and the Republic.

Padme Amidala sat in her seat in the senatorial shelter, nails punching holes in her palms as she stared transfixed at the hovering screen.

"Open all hatches and flaps." Anakin ordered. "We've got to get some drag here."

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, seated at the co-pilot and navigator stations complied. "Entering atmosphere." the younger Master reported calmly.

"We're going in hot." Anakin said grimly.

"In more than one sense of the word." Dooku said calmly studying a readout screen. "We have fire in just about every compartment -"

The control room jarred and the screen split to show half the ship fall away and tumble flaming into the distance. Next to Padme Sabe gave a low moan.

"We lost something." Anakin said onscreen.

"Everything aft of the hanger section." Qui-Gon confirmed.

"Not to worry," Obi-Wan said brightly. "We're still flying half a ship."

"If you can call this flying," Anakin muttered. "This thing handles like a falling rock."

"Anakin," Dooku chided mildly, "you are alarming the Chancellor."

"Sorry, sir. Don't mind me, I always get grumpy when my ship doesn't do what I want it to."

"I have every confidence in you, Anakin." Palpatine said through ashen lips."

Obi-Wan studied his readouts. "We're heating up."

"We're losing drag flaps and parts of the hull." said Qui-Gon.

"I know, I can feel it." Anakin answered. "Okay, hold on everybody I'm going to change inclination a few degrees. It should slow us down a little but its going to be a rough ride.

The bridge jounced and bucked frantically. "Not - a - good - move - Anakin!" Obi-Wan managed. "It's speeding our break-up."

"Okay - grab on to your stick and hold us level, Obi-Wan. Sorry about that, Chancellor, but it was worth a try."

Palpatine seemed beyond speech.

Padme knew she might be watching her husband's last minutes - and yet, somehow she couldn't believe it was going to end now, like this. She reached out to grip Sabe's icy hand with her own. They were going to make it, she knew they would. Anakin could do this - he could do anything!

It was nearly over now...the fireships had rendezvoused, frantically spraying the burning wreck with flame suppressants and guiding it towards the landing strip the authorities had cleared in the industrial sector.

"We're going in too hot." Anakin said. "brace yourselves -" and his half of the screen went dark.

The other half showed the red hot remnant of Grievous' command ship screaming the length of the strip, demolishing the control tower and spreading a fantail of wreckage behind it. Finally it juddered to a stop and emergency vehicles, both surface and air converged on it.

But no whisper came from the five men aboard.