Thank you to the 24 people who reviewed the last chapter. I don't know if it's for this story or for another but for those of you who are saying I'm spelling R2D2's name wrong, I spell it out how it is pronounced rather than using letters and numbers and I'm not the only one who does this. Also, for those you want to see Ahsoka, next chapter I promise. Please review as they are much appreciated.
Chapter 57
White-hot sparks zipped and crackled through the smoke that bellowed across the turbolift lobby. Obi-Wan coughed before covering his mouth and glancing at Palpatine who coughed harshly into the sleeve of his robe, held over his face for protection from caustic combustion products of the overloading circuitry. Dooku walked on Obi-Wan's other side free hand covering his own mouth while he watched silently with narrowed eyes.
"Artoo?" Anakin said into the comlink. Thankfully, it had avoided getting crushed as it had the first time.
"Artoo, do you copy?' Anakin asked. "Artoo, I need you to—"
"That might not be such a good idea, Anakin," Obi-Wan said placing his hand over Anakin's and the comlink.
Anakin looked at him with a frown. "Why not? How else are we going to get out of here?"
"With how the artificial gravity vector is liable to shift unpredictably, it would be best—" Obi-Wan broke off as the artificial gravity vector shifted again, just as he thought he would, throwing him, Anakin into a heap next to Palpatine in the lobby's opposite corner.
Palpatine was struggling to rise while Dooku propped himself up on the wall. Obi-Wan stretched out a hand before narrowing his eyes. "Do you have another way out of here?" he asked quietly to avoid being overheard by Palpatine and Anakin.
"Not with how much worse these gravity swings are getting. If I can get to the bridge and order Grievous to surrender then we stand a better chance than if we try to get off this ship with your Republic forces still firing upon it," Dooku said in response. Surprisingly, he had said it just as quietly as if he knew Obi-Wan didn't want the others to hear him.
"Perhaps you should stay down, sir," Anakin was saying to the Chancellor. "The gravity swings are getting worse."
Palpatine nodded. "But, Anakin—"
Obi-Wan opened himself up to the Force and opened the turbolift doors before leaping to the rim balancing in the open doorway. He held on to the frame as he peered into the turbolift. Just as he knew would happen, the altered gravity vector had made the turbolift shaft into a horizontal hallway of unlit durasteel, laser-straight, shrinking into darkness.
"We'll have to be fast," Anakin said as he joined Obi-Wan on the rim.
Obi-Wan nodded as he knew that the angled conning spire was some three hundred meters long. They could walk it in less than three minutes but Obi-Wan knew it would be risky especially with how erratic the gravity vector has been. If they didn't reach their destination before the wrong gravity shift caught them—
Obi-Wan looked over his shoulder at Palpatine and Dooku, the latter of whom had already gotten to his feet but was also in intense pain though it didn't show on his face. Anakin also looked at the two of them. "Are you two all right to run?"
The Supreme Chancellor rose, patting his robes in a futile attempt to dust them off while Dooku looked up at them. "I suppose so," he said.
"I haven't run since I was a boy on Naboo," Palpatine said almost at the same time.
"It's never too late to start getting into shape," Anakin said reaching out with the Force to give Palpatine a little help in clambering up to the open doorway while Obi-Wan did the same with Dooku.
"There are light shuttles on the hangar deck," Anakin added. "We can be there in five minutes." He helped Palpatine into the shaft-hall and Obi-Wan followed with Dooku.
"Follow me," Anakin said turning to go but Palpatine put a hand on his arm.
"Anakin, wait. We need to get to the bridge."
"Through an entire shipful of combat droids even with Dooku as our hostage?" Obi-Wan asked raising his eyebrows.
"We can get to the bridge without problems because the Count is our hostage?" Palpatine declared.
Dooku narrowed his eyes. "That would not be wise," he said coolly. "Grievous has complete control of the droid army and I have no control over them." That was a lie and Obi-Wan knew it based on what Dooku told him earlier. Obi-Wan figured that Dooku was upset with Palpatine for betraying him not that he could blame him.
"It would be suicide to attempt to get to the bridge now," Dooku added.
Anakin nodded. "Dooku's right. The hangar deck's right below—well, beside us, no. It's our best chance."
"Grievous is on the bridge though," Palpatine said.
"And just as the Count said, we would be going through Grievous's droids and Dooku has no command over them."
"But you were the one that captured Dooku. Capture Grievous and you will have dealt a wound from which the Separatists may never recover."
Obi-Wan placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Think about what is most important right now, Anakin," he said gently.
Anakin blinked as if pulling himself from a trance and he nodded. "I know, Obi-Wan. Our orders are clear. This is a rescue mission; your safety is my only priority."
"I will never be safe while Grievous lives," Palpatine retorted. "Go for the general."
"We will apprehend Grievous but the time to do so s not know," said Obi-Wan calmly. "Let us get to the hangar deck. Lead the way, Anakin."
Anakin nodded.
"I can make it an order, Anakin," Palpatine said before the younger Jedi could move.
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to protest but Anakin beat him to it. "With respect, sir: no. You can't. My orders come from the Jedi Council, and the Council's orders come from the Senate. You have no direct authority." Anakin's voice was tight and his jaw was clenched as he tried to rein in the sudden spark of anger he felt.
Obi-Wan felt a burst of pride and also a little concern. He was proud that Anakin was able to put his duty to the Order ahead of his friendship and loyalty to Palpatine but concerned as to that spark of anger he had felt through their bond. He realized that Anakin was angry that Palpatine would tell him to disobey an order from the Order and he remembered how Anakin had reacted when Palpatine told him to kill Dooku just before Anakin had disarmed the count.
The Chancellor's face darkened. "That may change."
Anakin avoided Palpatine's gaze but Obi-Wan could feel his frustration and faint suspicion. It was obvious he didn't like what the Chancellor just said. As Obi-Wan had been unconscious during this point in time the first time around, he had to wonder how Anakin had responded to those words the first time around. It was likely not the same way he reacted this time around.
"Let's go," Anakin said releasing his frustration into the Force before he began walking down the shaft-hall with Palpatine just behind him. Obi-Wan and Dooku brought up the rear.
He should know that the Jedi Council's orders come from the Senate not from him. Why would he threaten to order me to disobey the Jedi Council? I would never do that. Disobeying the Jedi Council wasn't something a Jedi would do and I'm sure it would disappoint Obi-Wan, which is something I don't want to do, Anakin thought. Palpatine was his friend and yet his words caused surprise and a little frustration to go through Anakin just as it had when Palpatine told him to strike Dooku down just before Anakin had disarmed the count.
Releasing his frustration into the Force, Anakin decided to think about something else so he began counting paces. He got to less than a third of the way along the conning spire when he felt the gravity begin to shift.
Exactly the wrong way: changing the rest of the long, long shaft from ahead to down.
He put out his free arm to stop the Chancellor. "This is a problem. Find something to hang on to while I get us out of here."
One of the turbolift doors was nearby, seemingly lying on its side. Anakin's lightsaber found his hand and its sizzling blade burned open the door controls, but before he could even move aside the sparking wires, the gravitic vector lurched toward vertical and the four of them fell, skidding along the wall. Anakin's free hand grabbed desperately at a loop of cable, catching it, hanging from it—
And the turbolift doors opened. Inviting. Safe. And mockingly out of reach: a meter above his outstretched arm.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan groaned exasperatedly. "How many lightsabers does that make?"
Anakin flushed as he watched his lightsaber's handgrip clank and clatter, fading toward infinity. "Uh, I lost count," he admitted embarrassment coloring his tone.
"You know, I think I will spare you the lecture you are expecting—"
Anakin breathed a sigh of relief but it was short-lived.
"—at least until we get back on Coruscant's surface."
"I've heard it before though," Anakin complained looking at his former master who was clinging to another loop of cable with one hand and holding Dooku's remaining hand with his other.
"Apparently, not enough," Obi-Wan said dryly but amusement twinkled in his eyes. "How are you holding in there, Count?"
"I would feel better if I was not in danger of plunging more than two hundred meters down," Dooku said through gritted teeth, eyes glistening with pain.
Palpatine was clinging to his leg peering fearfully into the darkness below. "Anakin, do something! You have to do something."
"Do you have any suggestions?" Obi-Wan asked.
Palpatine glared at him but Anakin didn't notice it as he said, "Don't panic. Just hang on."
"I don't think I can…" The Chancellor turned his anguished face upward imploringly. "Anakin, I'm slipping. Give me your hand—you have to give me your hand."
Anakin released his organic hand from the cable and grabbed Palpatine's. "I can get us out of this."
"Pray tell, young Skywalker, how are you going to do that?" Dooku said with a slight sneer.
Anakin ignored that. He really did wish he were as confident as he sounded. He had been counting on the artificial gravity to continue to swing until the shaft turned back into a hallway but instead it seemed to have stopped where it was.
This would be an especially lousy time for the generators to start working right.
He fixed a measuring glance on the open lift doorway above; perhaps the Force could give him enough of a boost to carry all four of them to safety. He looked at Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, do you think you could help me?"
"What do you have in mind?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin tilted his head toward the doorway. "Do you think you could help me get the four of us through there?" he asked.
"Possibly."
"Prisoner or not, injured or not. I am not an invalid," Dooku said irritably.
"I never said you were. Will you help us?"
"Of course. I do not fancy falling more than two hundred meters," the Sith Lord said.
With Dooku's help, the four of them managed to get through the doorway into the turbolift lobby. They tumbled through the doorway, across the floor to land in a heap against the lobby's opposite wall.
They gradually managed to untangle themselves.
"Are…all of your rescues so…" Palpatine gasped breathlessly. "…entertaining?"
Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged thoughtful frowns. "Actually, now that you mention it," he said, "yes."
Obi-Wan shook his head from where he was standing beside Dooku and Palpatine while Anakin stared into the tangled masses of wreckage that littered the hangar bay, trying to pick out anything that still even resembled a ship. The place looked as if it had taken a direct hit; wind howled against his back through the open hatchway where Obi-Wan and his two companions were standing. Scraps of debris whirled into the air, blown toward space through gaps in the scorched and buckled blast doors.
"None of those ships will get us anywhere!" Palpatine shouted above the wind. "What are we going to do?"
"Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked looking at Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I don't know, Anakin," he said.
Anakin opened his mouth to reply but, instead, shouted, "Master! Behind you!"
Obi-Wan whirled, lightsaber flaring to meet a barrage of blaster bolts. "Get the Chancellor and Dooku out of range," he ordered.
Anakin dashed forward before pulling both Palpatine and Dooku into the hangar bay. Out of the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan saw Anakin pressed them against the wall next to the hatch. "Stay under cover until we handle the droids."
"I could help," Dooku muttered.
Obi-Wan looked at the Sith Lord; he was getting pale and his eyes glistened with agony from his severed hand. He had to admit he was surprised the Sith Lord was still conscious even though it was obvious he was in pain. "You are barely able to stand on your own two feet and using the Force to get us out of that turbolift shaft took a lot of your energy. A blind, deaf, and forceless man could see that you aren't in any shape to help us."
Dooku scowled but Obi-Wan had spoken the truth as was proven a moment later when Dooku sank to the ground back pressed against the wall beside the hatch and eyes half-closing. Obi-Wan blocked another blaster bolt; he hadn't taken his eyes off his opponents since they appeared.
Anakin was forced to remain where he was because of his lost lightsaber.
"Droids are not our only problem! Look!"
Obi-Wan blocked another blaster bolt before glancing over his shoulder. On the far side of the bay, masses of wreckage were shifting, sliding toward the wall against which Anakin, Palpatine and Dooku were. Then debris closer to them began to slide, followed by piles closer still. An invisible wave-front was passing through the hangar bay; behind it, the gravitic vector was rotated a full ninety degrees.
Obi-Wan continued block blaster bolts as Anakin unspooled a length of his utility belt's safety cable and passed the end to Palpatine and Dooku. The wind made it sing. "Cinch this around your waist, both of you. Things are about to get wild."
"What's happening?" Palpatine cinched it around his waist before handing the rest to Dooku who did the same thing.
Anakin, once he was sure they were secured, said, "The gravity generators have desynchronized—they'll tear the ship apart." He grabbed one of the zero-g handles beside the hatchway, then leaned out into the firestorm of blaster bolts and saber flares and touched Obi-Wan's shoulder not that he needed the reminder.
Obi-Wan nodded and let Anakin grab his collar as the shear front moved past them and the wall became the floor. The torque of the gravity shear buckled the blast doors—which were no overhead—and the hurricane of escaping air blasting form the corridor would have blown the Jedi Master/time traveler up through the hatch had Anakin not dragged him out of the gale. Pieces of super battle droids began hurtling upward into the hangar bay like misfiring torpedoes.
Some of the super battle droids were still intact enough to open fire as they flew past. "Hang on to my belt!" Obi-Wan called spinning his lightsaber through an intricate flurry to deflect bolt after bolt. Anakin held him braced against the gale; his grip on the zero-g handle was the only thing keeping him and Obi-Wan from being blown out into space and taking Palpatine and Dooku with them.
"This is not the best plan we've ever had!" Anakin shouted.
"This was a plan?" Palpatine and Dooku sounded appalled.
"Anakin, contact Artoo and tell him to meet us. We're going to make our way forward," Obi-Wan shouted. "There are only droids back here. Once we hit live-crew areas, there will be escape pods." Anakin was not going to leave Padmé's wedding gift to him, which was why Obi-Wan reminded him about Artoo.
Anakin immediately fished out his comlink. "Artoo! Artoo, com in." He shook the comlink again and again. "Artoo, do you copy? Where are you?"
The comlink crackled to life with a familiar fwee-wheoo and Anakin grinned looking relieved. "Artoo, where are you? Come on, we have to get out of here!"
High above, on the wall that was supposed to be the floor, the lid of a battered durasteel storage locker shifted, pushed aside by a dome of silver and blue. The lid swung fully open and Artoo righted itself, deployed its booster rockets and floated out from the locker, heading for the far exit.
"Let's go," Anakin called.
They were running down the corridor when, suddenly, a sheet of shimmering energy suddenly flared in front of them, blocking the corridor on the far side of the intersection they were trotting across. Obi-Wan stopped so short that Anakin almost slammed into his back. He reached over and caught Palpatine and Dooku by the arm. "Careful, better no touch it till we know what it is."
"It's a ray shield," Obi-Wan said and Anakin could hear his irritation in his voice as he glared at the sheet of energy.
"We should find a way around—" Anakin began but broke off when another sheet shimmered into existence across the mouth of the corridor they'd just left and two more sizzled into place to seal the corridors to either side.
"I thought we were smarter than this," Obi-Wan said shaking his head in disbelief and Anakin felt a surge of irritation but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared.
"Apparently not. The oldest trap in the book and we walked right into it." Anakin grinned before adding, "Well, you walked right into it. I was just trying to keep up."
"Funny, Anakin. Have any idea on how to get us out of here? Or you, Count?"
Dooku, whose eyes were narrowed, shook his head. "However, if they do plan on capturing us then being taken to the bridge might give us an alternate plan." The look he and Obi-Wan exchanged was so secretive that Anakin couldn't help but frown.
What was that about? He thought.
Dooku thinks he can convince Grievous to surrender, Obi-Wan sent back.
But Grievous controls the droid army. If Dooku can't order the droids around then why does he think he can order Grievous around?
Grievous only has control over all the droids so Dooku can't order them around but he can still order Grievous around, Obi-Wan replied.
Anakin blinked; he hadn't thought of that. He did remember Dooku say that he couldn't order the droids around. He never said anything about Grievous.
"Perhaps," Palpatine said thoughtfully as though the idea had only jut occurred to him, "we should simply surrender to General Grievous. Just because the droids will not listen to the Count's orders doesn't mean Grievous won't."
Anakin was surprised because that had been Obi-Wan's plan and, it would appear, Dooku's as well. He looked at Obi-Wan but his former master's face was impassive. Through their bond, though, Anakin could feel his surprise.
"I say patience," Anakin said.
"Patience? You? And that's a plan?" Obi-Wan asked raising his eyebrows.
Anakin glowered at him for the reminder that he wasn't patient though he knew his former master was only kidding. "You know what Master Yoda says: patience you must have, until the mud settles and the water becomes clear. So let's wait."
"Very well, we'll go with your plan, Anakin," Obi-Wan said.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Palpatine confused.
"A security patrol," Anakin said. "A couple of droids will be along in a moment or two; they'll have to drop the ray shield to take us into custody."
"And then?"
'Then we wipe them out."
"And if they're destroyer droids? Or something worse?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin looked at him. "Oh come on, Master. Worse than destroyers? Besides, security patrols are always those skinny useless little battle droids."
At that moment, four of those skinny useless battle droids came marching toward them, one along each corridor, clanking along with blaster rifles leveled. One of them triggered one of its preprogrammed security commands. "Hand over your weapons!" The other three chimed in with enthusiastic barks of "Roger, roger!" and a round of spastic head-bobbing.
"See? No problem," Anakin said.
Before Obi-Wan could reply, concealed doors in the corridor walls zipped suddenly aside. Through them rolled the massive bronzium wheels of destroyer droids, two into each corridor. The eight destroyers unrolled themselves behind the battle droids, haloed by sparkling energy shields, twin blaster cannons targeting the two Jedi's chests.
"You were saying?" Obi-Wan.
Anakin sighed. "Well, I guess you're off the hook for the ray shield trap," he said.
Escorted onto the bridge of the Invisible Hand, Obi-Wan simply looked at General Grievous as he lifted the two lightsabers, one of which was Anakin's found likely at the bottom of the turbolift shaft, one in each duranium hand, to admire them by the light of turbolaser blasts outside.
"Rare trophies, these: the weapon of Anakin Skywalker and the weapon of General Kenobi. I look forward to adding them to my collection," he said before he looked at Dooku. "You look like you could have had a better day, my lord. I suppose I shall have to ratify your defeat."
Dooku's eyes went cold. "We've lost, General Grievous. These two are not Jedi you should be trifling with."
"I have beaten both of them before, my lord. I can beat them again."
"That is what I thought and they bested me. You cannot underestimate them. This war is over."
Grievous glared furiously at Dooku. "So you surrendered? You are a pathetic weakling to have surrendered to the Jedi. I am not going to make the same mistake."
Obi-Wan simply gazed at Grievous as he said, "You will not add our lightsabers to your collection. I am in control here." He felt like he was in control at least just as he had the first time around; the first time around, the Force had been speaking through him then and it was doing the same thing now.
Grievous stalked forward.
Anakin subtly nudged Palpatine out of the line of fire while Artoo accessed its combat subprograms and diverted power to its booster rockets, claw-arm and cable-gun.
Grievous towered over him. "So confident you are, Kenobi."
"Not confident, merely calm. As Dooku suggested earlier, I am willing to accept your surrender. We do not need further violence."
"Does this preposterous I-will-accept-your-surrender line of yours ever actually work?"
"Sometimes. When it doesn't, people get hurt. Sometimes they die." Obi-Wan's blue-gray eyes met surely those of yellow behind the mask. "By people, in this case, you should understand that I mean you."
"I understand enough. I understand that I will kill you." Grievous threw back his cloak and ignited both lightsabers. "Here. Now! With your own blade."
"I don't think so."
What happened next happened rather quickly just as it had last time. Grievous made to ignite the lightsabers and Artoo was already in action even before Obi-Wan could get his nickname out. A panel slide aside in the little droid's fuselage and the fusion-welder had deployed and fired a blinding spray of sparks hot enough to melt duranium and in the quarter of a second while even Grievous's electronically enhanced reflexes had him startled and distracted, Obi-Wan used the Force to temporarily reverse the polarity of the electrodrivers in the general's mechanical hands. Durasteel fingers sprang open and two lightsabers fell free.
Obi-Wan stretched out with the Force and his blade flew into his hand. He ignited it and he was free from his binders. At the same time, Anakin flipped carrying himself over Obi-Wan whose blade sliced through his binders. Anakin landed with his own hand extended and his lightsaber sang through the air to land in his hand. Together and back to back, they expressionlessly stared past the snarling blue energy of their lightsabers.
Obi-Wan regarded the general without emotion. "Perhaps you should reconsider my offer."
Grievous braced himself against a control console, its durasteel housing buckling under his grip. "This is my answer!"
He ripped the console wholly into the air, right out from under the hands of the astonished Neimoidian operator, raised it over his head, and hurled it at the Jedi. They split, rolling out of the console's way as it crashed to the deck, spitting smoke and sparks.
"Open fire!" Grievous shook his fists as though each held a Jedi's neck. "Kill them! Kill them all!"
"I see how it is then, Grievous," Dooku said coolly holding out his remaining hand and his curved hilted lightsaber, which Grievous had forgot about, flew from the hands of the droid holding it. Igniting the crimson blade, Dooku added, "You really should have taken the Jedi up on their offer."
Using the blade, he cut through Palpatine's binders before clipping it to his belt. Obviously, he didn't have the strength to aid in the battle Obi-Wan and Anakin were currently waging against the droids who had opened fire on them. However, Obi-Wan briefly glanced at him just in time to see him slam his fist into Palpatine's face.
"And that's for betraying me," Obi-Wan heard Dooku hiss very quietly before he sank to the ground with his back pressed against the console next to him.
He would have laughed at the sight of Palpatine getting punched but he had other things to worry about like the firestorm he and Anakin were caught in.
Grievous decided to let the Magnaguards take care of the Jedi while he looked around for Palpatine. The sniveling coward was probably beneath one of the control consoles. He briefly looked at Dooku who looked barely conscious as he rested his back against the console with the stump that was all that remained of his right hand held close. It wasn't as if Dooku would pose a problem and, frankly, his decision to surrender to the Jedi was what made him weak and it was betrayal against the Confederacy in Grievous's eyes since he wasn't weak enough to surrender. Sidious would not have been happy and neither was Grievous. That was why he didn't have any problems ordering the traitor to the Separatists' death; it was time someone else led the Confederacy.
Eyeing Dooku, Grievous decided against ordering his death. He'll just let the count die from his wound, which would kill him if he didn't get medical attention soon. It was a surprise that Dooku had managed to stay conscious as long as he had though Grievous was just in time to see Dooku topple to the ground unconscious.
Not paying attention to the weak Sith Lord, Grievous turned and tapped his internal comlink's jaw sensor to the general droid command frequency. "The Chancellor is hiding under one of the consoles. Squad Sixteen, find him, and deliver him to my escape pod immediately. Squad Eight, stay on mission. Kill the Jedi."
Then the ship bucked, sharper than it ever had and the view wall panels whited out as radiation-scatter sleeted through the bridge. Alarm klaxons blared. The nav console flared sparks into the face of a Neimoidian pilot, setting his uniform on fire and adding his screams to the din, and another console exploded, ripping the newly promoted senior gunnery officer into a pile of shredded meat.
Ah, Grievous thought. In all the excitement, he had entirely forgotten about Lieutenant Commander Needa and Integrity.
The other pilot—the one who wasn't shrieking and slapping at the flames on his uniform until his own hands caught fire—leaned as far away from his screaming partner as his crash webbing would allow and shouted, "General, that shot destroyed the last of the aft control cells! The ship is deorbiting! We're going to burn!"
"Very well," Grievous said calmly. "Stay on course." Now it no longer mattered whether his bodyguards could overpower the Jedi or not they would all burn together.
Anakin whirled around to block the incoming blaster fire before slicing through the super battle droids that were holding Palpatine. While he was dismantling those droids, Obi-Wan was in the process of doing the same with the MagnaGuards slicing off every limb that he could ee until its limbless torso fell to the deck writhing and howling.
With both MagnaGuards down, the eight destroyers who had entered the fray opened fire, dual cannons erupting gouts of galvened particle beams. The two Jedi leapt together to screen the Chancellor and before Grievous could command the destroyers to cease fire, the Jedi had deflected enough of the bolts to blow apart three-quarters of the remaining super battle droids and send the survivors scurrying for cover beside what was lift of the cringing Neimodians.
The destroyers began to close in, hosing down the Jedi with heavy fire, advancing step by step, cannons against lightsabers; the Jedi caught every blast and sent them back against the destroyers' shields that flared in spherical haloes as they absorbed the reflected bolts. Anakin gritted his teeth. The destroyers might have won against them, except for one unexpected difficulty—
Gravity shear.
All eight of them suddenly seemed, inexplicably, to leap into the air, followed by Anakin, and Palpatine, and chairs and pieces of MagnaGuards and everything else on the bridge that was not bolted to the deck including Dooku but except Obi-Wan who managed to grab a control console and now was hanging by one hand, upside down, still effortlessly deflecting blaster bolts.
When another plane of gravity shear swept through the bridge, droids, Chancellor, Sith Lord and Jedi all fell back to the floor.
Anakin rolled to his feet before he and Obi-Wan, who had been standing beside the console to which he had clung when the first gravity shear swept through the bridge, worked together to dismantle the remaining destroyers. When the destroyers were dealt with, they parted to bracket Grievous.
"I am sorry I don't have time to fight you—it would have been an interesting match—but I have an appointment with an escape pod. And you…" Grievous pointed at the transparisteel view wall and Anakin watched as a grappling claw buried itself into one of the panel supports.
"You," he said, "have appointments with death.
The Jedi leapt; however, Grievous hurled the overloading electrostaff not at the Jedi but at the window.
One of the transparisteel panels of the view wall had cracked under a glancing hit from a starfighter's cannon; when the sparking electrostaff hit it squarely and exploded like a proton grenade, the whole panel blew out into space.
A hurricane roared to life, raging through the bridge, seizing Neimoidian corpses and pieces of droids and wreckage and hurling them out through the gap along with a white fountain of flash frozen air. Anakin and Obi-Wan's leaps had become frantic tumbles as they tried to avoid being sucked through along with Grievous.
Obi-Wan held on tightly to the console he managed to grab before looking over at Anakin who was clinging on to another console nearby as well. The blast shield closed over the destroyed transparisteel window and Obi-Wan stood up before looking toward Anakin as he stood up and went over to check on Palpatine. Obi-Wan walked over to check on the unconscious Dooku and lifted him up before carrying him toward one of the chairs. He strapped the unconscious Sith Lord in place before looking at Palpatine and Anakin.
Anakin was staring grimly down at the console readout. "All the escape pods are gone. Not one left on the whole ship." He looked up at Obi-Wan. "We're trapped."
Obi-Wan simply smiled. "Well, here's you're a chance to display your legendary piloting skills, Anakin. Or should I say crashing skills?'
Anakin smiled as well. "Strap yourself in," he said removing the corpse of the pilot before sitting down, his fingers sliding over the controls.
The cruiser, which had been bucking continuously, bounced even harder, and its attitude began to skew as a new klaxon joined the blare of the other alarms. "That wasn't me!" Anakin jerked his hands away from the board. "I haven't even done anything yet!"
"It certainly wasn't." Palpatine's voice was calm and Obi-Wan resisted the urge to snort although he do notice the punch Dooku had given him, though most likely lacking his full strength, had left a faint bruise around Palpatine's eye. "It seems someone is shooting at us."
"Wonderful," Anakin said. "Could this day get any better?"
"I'll just contact them and let them know we captured the ship," Obi-Wan was walking toward the comm station although, when he passed Palpatine, he couldn't resist saying, "You have something on your face, Chancellor."
Palpatine glared venomous daggers at him that Anakin didn't see but Obi-Wan simply smirked. "I am just pointing out something I thought you should know," he said as he reached the comm station and began working the screen.
"All right. Artoo, you have second chair. Chancellor?" Anakin said.
"Yes?" Palpatine's face went impassive and his eyes went expressionless to hide the anger he was feeling. "Strap in. Now. We're going in hot." Anakin grimaced and Obi-Wan had to agree with him as he gazed at the scraps of burning hull flashing past the view wall. "In more ways than one."
The vast space battle that had ripped and battered Coruscant space all this long, long day, finally began to flicker out. At the very least, Anakin did manage to live up to being a legendary pilot when he crash-landed the Invisible Hand and left everybody onboard alive.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: and that was chapter 57, which wasn't that much different. In fact, it wasn't at all different except for Dooku being there. Guess it's just another one of those things that Obi-Wan can't change. Ah well. And ha, Palpypie got punched! Sweet. (And yes, that might not have actually happened if Dooku survived but I liked the idea so I made it so.)
Darth: that's cool. What's going to happen next?
Blaze: arrival on Coruscant, Ahsoka, a surprising twist with Jenica all leading up to, well, I'm not sure yet actually. You'll just have to wait and see
Darth: ah coo and what's the surprising twist with Jenica?
Blaze: I'm not saying (smirks mischievously but shrugs) Actually, I might end up changing what happens. I'm unsure of what to do with the twist though.
Darth: oh okay
Mace: GET BACK HERE WITH MY MUSTANG!
Palpypie: (laughs evilly) it's mine now!
Mace: (aims bazooka at Palpypie)
Palpypie: you'll destroy your Mustang if you fire that thing (drinks cappuccino)
Obi-Wan: (eyes narrow) You have my cappuccino. I have a certain set of skills. If you give my cappuccino back to me, that will be the end of it. But if you don't, then I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you
Palpypie: (gulps, takes off and hides in hole)
Obi-Wan: (easily finds hole via tracking device at bottom of cappuccino cup and blasts Palpypie into oblivion with Mace's bazooka) here're your car keys, Mace
Mace: (takes car keys and frowns) When did you get my bazooka?
Obi-Wan: the Force naturally
Mace: oh okay (leaps into mustang and drives off)
Blaze: (chuckles) please review and I will post chapter 58 as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it will be anytime soon.