Author's Note: This isa much longer chapter then the first one as you can probably tell from the scroll button on the side, lots of action in it. I like to think I did fairly well doing those scenes.
The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 1-The Turning of an Era
Episode V: Revenge of the Sith
Chapter 2: Rescuing the Chancellor
Bridge of the Separatist Command Ship, The Invisible Hand
Supreme Commander of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems Droid Armies, Arica Grievous burst into the bridge of her Command ship, flanked by two of her Magna Droid bodyguards glaring at all her crew members.
Neimoidians and droids, she silently scoffed as she stalked over to the Neimoidian Captain of the ship. She hated them both.
"What's the situation captain?" she snarled.
"Three Jedi have landed in the main hangerbay. We're tracking them," the captain reported while pointing to an onscreen holograph of three Jedi running down a hallway towards an elevator. Three Jedi she knew all too well. Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi and…her twin sister Antellica Grievous.
Before Arica had locked the Chancellor into her quarters he'd told her about Antellica being a Jedi now. She'd scoffed with disgust at the thought. How desperate the Jedi must be now to have non-Force sensitive beings join their rakes.
From the looks of it, it appeared they were heading to the main elevator that would take them up to her quarters.
Arica smirked. Well, not if I can help it.
"Just like Count Dooku predicted," she announced.
The Sith apprentice that was now onboard her ship would very much be pleased. She went to go inform him of this. Not that he needed to know of course. He'd probably already sensed them.
She strutted over towards the intraship holocom and activated it. The numbers she pressed into it was the number to her personal quarters on board where Dooku and Sidious were now waiting.
"Lord Tyranus," she said bowing as the holo of his back appeared. "Kenobi, Skywalker, and Antellica have arrived."
Although his back was still to her she could almost sense the slight smirk on his face at the mention of her sister but she acted if she hadn't seen it. "Yes. I'd felt them. Drive them towards me."
"My lord, I must express once more my objections-"
Dooku turned and glared slightly down at her from his commanding height of the holo. "Your objections have been noted already, General. Leave the Jedi to me."
"Very well," she gave a mockery of abow, "Lord Tyranus. Is there anything else you, or Sidious wishes for me to do?"
"Yes, confine your efforts to preventing support troops from boarding. Without their pet clones to back them up no Jedi is a danger to me."
At that moment the deck shuddered quite sharply and Arica had to hold onto a passing droid to keep from falling. Dooku merely raised an eyebrow. "And might I suggest that you devote some attention to protecting this ship? Having it destroyed with both myself, you and the other aboard might put something of a cramp in the war effort, don't you think?"
"It is already being done my lord," she said snapping her fingers at a few commanding droids. "Does my lord wish to observe the progress of the Jedi? I can feed the security monitors onto this channel."
"Thank you General. That will be welcome."
"Gracious as ever my lord. Grievous out."
Hallway 328, The Invisible Hand
When Anakin, Antellica, and Obi-Wan had reached the end of the hallway they were about to board the elevator that laid at the end of it when three droidekars appeared out of what seemed no where and began firing at them.
"Destroyers," Anakin announced.
The three of them deflected the blots shot at them as they backed their way into the elevator. The doors closed in front of them and they began to rise.
"Drop your weapons," the voice of a droid suddenly commanded behind them. "I said drop 'em."
As one Antellica and Anakin turned and smirked at each other before than joining Obi-Wan in slicing down the six battle droids behind them. Afterwards Anakin turned to Antellica and gave her a little pat on the back.
"I'm sorry I reprimanded you earlier Antellica. I was only saying it because I was worried about you. I don't want to see you get hurt." Anakin gave her a sly smile. "I hope you can find it in that amusingly sarcastic heart of yours to forgive me."
Antellica and Obi-Wan both chuckled and Antellica opened her arms to Anakin. He smiled and accepted them.
"Of course my amusingly sarcastic heart can forgive you Anakin," she quipped. "Why wouldn't it?"
The three of them shared another brief laugh but this was short lived when the elevator suddenly stopped. Antellica looked around in confusion.
"Did either of you hit the stop button?" Obi-Wan asked.
Both shook their head.
"No did you?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No."
Anakin whipped his lightsaber out. "Well there's more than one way out of here."
Igniting his lightsaber he proceeded to cut a hole in the roof of the elevator.
"We don't want to get out. We want to get moving," Obi-Wan said pulling his comlink from his belt and speaking into it. "R2 activate elevator 31174."
There was no response.
"Come in R2."
Still there was no response.
"R2 do you copy?"
Still nothing.
"R2 activate elevator 31174."
Still nothing.
Obi-Wan paused briefly before speaking into the comm again. "R2 activate elevator 31174," he repeated. "R2?"
Just than the hole Anakin had cut in the roof of the elevator fell to the floor and Antellica and Obi-Wan had to jump out the way of it. Anakin jumped up through the hole and landed up onto the roof above them.
Obi-Wan sighed. "Always on the move."
Antellica smiled and Obi-Wan gestured for her to follow Anakin up as he went back to his comlink.
"R2 switch on your comlink. R2 can you hear me? R2?"
But just as Antellica was about to take Anakin's extended hand to climb up and out, the elevator suddenly gave a jolt, knocking both Jedi to the floor, and began to descend. When Obi-Wan got up he looked at the flashing lights that told them they were going down and picked up his comlink again.
"Stop. Stop. R2 we need to be going up."
Still there was no response from the droid.
"R2 do you copy? R2 do you hear me? R2 we need to be going up not down."
"That's odd," Antellica commented. "R2 usually always answers when he's called."
"I know."
The elevator jerked suddenly again, knocking Obi-Wan to the floor. Antellica held on to the side panel this time so she didn't fall. Smirking down at Obi-Wan she offered him her hand. Quite embarrassed he took it and she helped him up. It was than that they both realized they were going up again.
"There that's much better," Obi-Wan commented into the comlink, turning his beet red face from Antellica in embarrassment.
Suddenly a cloaked figure fell down through the hole Anakin'd made in the elevator roof. Both Antellica and Obi-Wan whipped out their lightsabers and ignited them. When the figure stood however they saw that it was Anakin.
"Oh it's you," Obi-Wan said and he and Antellica quickly put away their sabers.
Anakin was smirking at both of them. "What was that all about?"
"Well R2-" Obi-Wan started.
"Yes you do enjoy blaming things on other people don't you," Anakin cut across him.
Antellica wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but one tiny smirk from him showed her he was. She laughed briefly and Anakin gave a small chuckle of his own while Obi-Wan said exasperatedly, "Did I say anything? I didn't say anything!"
The elevator jerked to a stop once more, knocking the three of them to the floor again as the doors opened. After getting up they exited and walked down the hallway that Antellica knew led to Arica's Quarters.
I wonder if she'll be in there, Antellica wondered.
"I doubt it," Anakin replied.
"Doubt what?" Obi-Wan asked.
Antellica shot a glare over in Anakin's direction. How dare you read my thoughts!
Anakin simply put his head down, smirking a bit. "Sorry."
"Sorry for what?" Obi-Wan asked. He than stopped walking and placed himself in front of them, looking between the two. "Is this some type of inside joke?" he asked for both of them were now smirking.
"Anakin was reading my thoughts," Antellica explained. "I was simply wondering if Arica would be inside her quarters. Anakin said he doubted it, I told him to stay out of my mind, he said he was sorry."
"Hmm." Obi-Wan frowned slightly at Anakin.
"I didn't mean too," Anakin said a bit lamely.
"I'll have to teach you sometime how to put a shield on your mind so no one can read it," Obi-Wan said still frowning at Anakin, who was now smirking at the floor.
Antellica smiled before shooting another glare at Anakin. "I'd like that."
They than continued on their way down the hall to Arica's Quarters.
When they got to the entrance they all nodded at each other before Obi-Wan pressed the door activation button. The door opened and they stepped inside. They were in a circular room with large windows that now showed the continuing battle raging outside. In the center of the room, strapped in a chair was Chancellor Palpatine. They slowly approached him. Obi-Wan gave a small bow once they reached him. "Chancellor."
"Are you all right?" Anakin asked. But Palpatine wasn't looking at them; he was looking ahead past them. Antellica looked and snarled at what she saw.
"Count Dooku," Palpatine simply stated.
Anakin and Obi-Wan turned around as well. Count Dooku was standing above them on a balcony with two Super Battledroids flanking him. He approached the rail of the balcony and backflipped over it, landing a good thirty feet in front of them.
"This time we will do it together," Obi-Wan murmured to Anakin.
"I was about to say that," Anakin whispered back.
"Get help, you're no match for him he's a Sith Lord," Palpatine said in a fake scared voice as Dooku began to approach them.
Antellica snorted at the stupidity of the comment and Obi-Wan turned to the Chancellor looking amused. "Chancellor Palpatine. Sith Lords are our specialty."
By now Dooku was only a few meters in front of them. He chuckled lightly when he spotted Antellica. She glared.
"Ah yes, General Arica Grievous' twin Antellica Grievous. I find it quite humorous that you have her serving the crumpling Republic as a Jedi. A girl who doesn't even have access to the Force."
Stretching out his hand Antellica's lightsaber flew out of her own.
"Dog," she spat.
"How very like your sister you are Antellica, she too is exceedingly arrogant." He laughed lightly pocketing her lightsaber before turning his attention back to Anakin and Obi-Wan.
"Your swords please. We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor."
Both Jedi moved to approach him.
"You won't get away this time Dooku," Obi-Wan said before igniting his lightsaber. Anakin and Count Dooku soon followed and the duel began. Antellica sat down on the floor next to Palpatine's chair and smiled up at him. He smiled back and they than turned their attention back to the duel, or show as Antellica thought it.
The three had stopped briefly and Dooku spoke. "I've been looking forward to this."
"My powers have doubled since the last time we met Count," Anakin snarled at him.
"Good," Dooku snarled back. "Twice the pride, double the fall."
The fight than broke out again. Dooku used a Force push on Obi-Wan to knock him to the ground and the duel between him and Anakin than led up the side stairs to the balcony. Obi-Wanquickly got up and ran up the other side stairs that led to the other side of the balcony. The Super battledroids however began firing at him but he quickly got rid of them by slicing them both in half.
"Get!" Palpatine suddenly said and Antellica looked over at him in confusion. Obviously sensing her stare he looked over at her and winked before nodding at the duel. Looking over she saw that Dooku had now lifted Obi-Wan in the air with a Force choke. He than threw him down the side stairs he'd come up and had a beam fall on top of him knocking him unconscious. Anakin, who'd been knocked to the floor by Dooku, ran over to the SithApprentice and kicked him off the balcony. Dooku backflipped as Anakin did this so fell to the floor with grace. Anakin flipped after him and the duel continued.
After a few many swishes and strokes Anakin and Dooku's sabers locked in a blow and Dooku spoke. Antellica could easily hear the smirk and taunting in his voice.
"Sense great fear in you Skywalker. You have hate. You have anger. But you don't use them."
Anakin unlocked the blow snarling and the fight continued. But this time Antellica noticed that Anakin was quickly gaining the upper hand. With a sudden movement Anakin sliced off both of Dooku's hands from underneath him and called Dooku's saber to his other hand before it could fall to the floor. He held both sabers at Dooku's neck in a formed X.
"Good Anakin, good," Palpatine chuckled smirking. Antellica got up from the floor laughing nastily and clapping.
"Kill him," Palpatine commanded. "Kill him now."
Antellica sniffed at the sight of Dooku looking at Palpatine; his Sith master, in utmost shock and confusion. Anakin however hesitated. "I shouldn't."
Antellica scoffed. "And why shouldn't you?"
Anakin remained silent, simply looking at the scared Dooku.
"Do it!" Palpatine suddenly barked.
Anakin continued to hesitate.
"Now!" Antellica added in a commanding voice.
Anakin looked at her a moment and than at Palpatine before slicing Dooku's head off with both swords.
Antellica smirked down at Dooku's head and snarled, "Ha! Who's laughing now!" She than proceeded to kick his head across the room.
Palpatine let out a slight chuckle before addressing Anakin. "You did well Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive."
As Antellica than went over to Dooku's dead corpse to collect her lightsaber Anakin used the Force to undo Palpatine's binds. Giving Dooku's corpse one last kick she went over towards the unconscious form of Obi-Wan, still listening to Anakin and Palpatine talking.
"Yes but he was an unarmed prisoner," Anakin was saying. "I shouldn't have done that. It's not the Jedi way."
Antellica snorted.
"It was only natural," Palpatine said calmly. "He cut off your arm and you wanted revenge. It wasn't the first time Anakin. You remember what you told me about your mother. And the sand people."
Glancing over Antellica saw Anakin nod softly.
"Now we must leave before more security droids arrive," Palpatine said making for the exit.
Antellica was now lifting the beam off Obi-Wan and checked for a pulse. She found one and sighed in relief. Anakin was soon at her side also checking for a pulse.
"Anakin, Antellica, there's no time," Palpatine said urgently. "We must get off this ship before it's too late."
"He seems to be all right," Anakin commented looking up at the Chancellor.
"Leave him or we'll never make it," Palpatine commanded.
Antellica was shocked. "We can't just leave him here." Anakin nodded.
"I don't know if either of has noticed but with the battle going on outside this ship is falling apart," Palpatine tried reasoning.
"His fate will be the same as ours," Anakin stated defiantly.
Bridge, The Invisible Hand
The battle between the Republic and Separatists continued to rage outside as General Grievous watched with mild fascination. She turned to her ship captain. "Prepare full attack."
The cannon crew, a bunch of worthless battle droids, did so with the captain calling out, "Recharge. Fire! Fire!"
The droids did as they were commanded, destroying a large Republic star destroyer that was right in front of them.
General's Quarters, The Invisible Hand
After Anakin's defiant comment Palpatine simply shrugged and Anakin hoisted Obi-Wan onto his back. They than ran out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. The lights that showed that the elevator was in working order were off.
"Elevator's not working," Anakin commented and made to grab the comlink from Obi-Wan's side pocket. Antellica stopped him and grabbed it herself, clicking it on.
"R2, activate elevator 2224."
As last time, there was no response.
Before Antellica could ask anything else of R2 all of a sudden the ship began to move out of its level orbit, causing the three of them to lose their footing. Antellica grabbed onto a hedge next to the elevator control panel with one hand and grabbed onto Anakin's arm with another hand. They hoisted themselves into the elevator and climbed through the hole Anakin had cut that was no longer on the ceiling but on the left-hand side of them. After successfully getting out of the elevator they ran down the elevator shaft. It was than that the ship leveled out again and so the three of them had to grab onto something to keep from falling into the abyss of theshaft. Antellica and Anakin grabbed the shaft belt that the elevator rode on while Palpatine held onto Anakin's ankle. Obi-Wan was still being held tightly by Anakin on his back.
"Aarah!"
Antellica looked down and smiled. "Ah so the great Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi finally awakes," she said in a dramatic voice.
Obi-Wan however made no note to her comment. He looked down the abyss of the elevator shaft in surprise and held tightly onto Anakin. "Did I miss something?"
"Easy," Anakin caused. "We're in a bit of a situation. Hold on."
Suddenly Antellica heard a bang. Looking up she saw the elevator falling down above them.
"What is that?" Obi-Wan asked, also looking up.
"Oops," Anakin fumbled for the comlink Antellica had given back to him. "R2. R2 shut down the elevator."
"Too late jump," Obi-Wan yelled.
They all did so, letting go of the shaft belt and dropped. Antellica suddenly felt Anakin's hand on her arm and the next thing she knew they had all landed in a heap in the hallway they'd been in earlier.
"Let's see if we can find something in the hangerbay that's still flyable," Obi-Wan suggested while getting up.
Anakin nodded and spoke into the comlink again. "R2 get down here."
Again there was no response.
"R2 do you copy?"
That time they got a response. R2's beeps could be heard over the comlink. The four of them than proceeded to go down the hallway towards the main hangerbay at a run.
Bridge, The Invisible Hand
General Grievous was furious. Her Command ship was falling apart and in the confusion the Jedi had somehow disappeared with the Chancellor. To make matters worse Dooku's plan to kill the Jedi had failed because he was now a dead corpse. Though Arica felt some satisfaction at this she was also a bit disgusted in the overconfidence of the late Sith Apprentice. As for her ship, damage to it was becoming extremely severe. Thirty percent of automated weapons systems were down and the hyperdrive capability was close to being loose. In the battle they'd had to reverse stabilizers to deflect some of the bombards of the Republic star destroyers that were now attacking the ship in full force. The stabilizers, though they helped, had ended up moving the ship out of its level orbit. Arica had screamed at her crew to fire up the emergency booster engines. They'd done so and the ship leveled out the way it'd been before, however they still couldn't find the Jedi or the Chancellor.
"General, we found the Jedi," a commander battle droid suddenly reported. "They're in hallway 328."
Arica nodded with a smirk before commanding, "Activate ray shields."
Hallway 328, The Invisible Hand
Halfway down the hallway the four escapees were suddenly surrounded by a wall of force field.
"Ray shields," Anakin announced warily.
"Wait a minute. How did this happen? We're smarter than this," Obi-Wan said clearly baffled as to why he hadn't sensed this in time.
"Apparently not," Anakin commented dryly. "I say patience."
"Patience?" Obi-Wan repeated.
"Yes. R2 will be along in a few minutes and than…he'll release the ray shields."
Antellica gave a tentative, not so sure nod when she suddenly heard the sound of something giving a swill like scream. Turning in confusion she saw R2 flying in and skidding to a halt after crashing into a wall.
"You see. No problem," Anakin assured.
Antellica however merely rose an eyebrow. It can't be this easy.
And indeed before R2 could even do anything they were surrounded by battle droids of every kind. R2 tried firing electricity at a few of them but was quickly kicked to floor by one of them.
"Do you have a Plan B?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin.
Anakin put his head down in defeat and they surrendered. The ray shield was deactivated and after their weapons were taken from them they were led to the Bridge of the Invisible Hand where they knew General Arica Grievous was waiting for them.