Mace Windu was exhausted. All morning he had had to contend with battle droids littering the skies and streets of the galactic capital. But now he had spotted General Grievous preparing to disappear in the shuttle with his Chancellor loot. Where were Shaak Ti and the other two Jedi? When he finally reached the scene, he saw the shuttle take off. He tried to use the Force to keep the craft on the ground. But he didn't succeed. The shuttle flew away with Grievous and Palpatine as he watched grimly, absorbing the recoil that had occurred when Grievous's escape vehicle had shattered the invisible chain that Mace Windu had briefly attached to it with his Force arts.
He turned away from the separatist general who was disappearing further and further and looked over to the hall where a fight must have taken place. The brown Ithorian Roron Corobb and the Talz Foul Moudama lay on the ground with their chests slashed. Mace Windu was not surprised to see that both dead Jedi were missing their lightsabers. But where was Shaak Ti? Had Grievous taken her too?
Then he heard a noise in the darkness. It was a quiet, constant crackling and humming sound. He went to the back of the hall. Shaak Ti hung from the ceiling like a pupated Geonosian larva, suspended in a network of vibrocables that glowed and gleamed yellowish around her.
"Master Shaak Ti?"
She opened her violet eyes. Shame and exhaustion were visible there.
"I've failed," were the only words Shaak Ti spoke to Mace Windu in a flat, shallow voice.
The Korun Master threw his lightsaber upwards to cut the strands of cables that held Shaak Ti to the ceiling. Violet light met the yellow light, which immediately stopped glowing. Then he caught the completely weakened Jedi Master in his arms as the lightsaber fell to the ground, extinguished. After Mace Windu placed Shaak Ti in the back seat of his glider, he got behind the wheel and started the vehicle. He held out his hand to use the Force to summon his lightsaber from the floor of the hall, then rushed away with the injured woman. During the entire journey to the temple, Shaak Ti didn't speak to him. Her violet eyes were open, but they looked almost dead up into the sky and didn't seem to perceive or reflect anything.
"She went into shock," said the medics who attended to her at the Jedi Temple's hospital. Knowing that his Jedi sister was in good hands, Mace Windu rushed to Master Yoda to tell him about the terrible outcome of the mission to rescue the Chancellor.
"Perhaps sending you to the Chancellor's guarding - I should have" said Yoda.
Then Yoda went to the infirmary. Shaak Ti was still lying on the sterile white bed, staring. An IV tube had been placed in her to provide her with nutrition.
"Her burns healed immediately", the doctor on duty said. "She probably did that herself with her healing powers. There is nothing physically wrong with her now. But she doesn't move, doesn't say a word. Doesn't want to eat or drink anything. She doesn't look at anyone. We can only feed her artificially and wait," said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders in perplexity.
"Two more days here – she's staying. Then her to her room - you bring!" ordered Yoda.
Shaak Ti remained unresponsive even after those two days when two medics put her on a stretcher and took her to her room in the Jedi Temple.
That day, Luminara Unduli visited her friend. She brought some penja fruits with her and looked at Shaak Ti with an expectant smile. The Togruta wordlessly took one of the fruits from the tray that Luminara held out to her and greedily stuffed it into herself.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, my dear," the Mirialan said with regret in her voice. "If I had known that Grievous was playing so badly with you, I would have stayed with the Chancellor myself. I would have insisted to the council that Master Fisto be taken with me. After all, I and Kit Fisto are Palpatine's official advisors on Jedi matters. But unfortunately, Master Fisto had a different mission when that happened."
"What did Master Yarael Poof say?" asked Shaak Ti, suddenly finding her voice again.
"What do you mean?" Luminara Unduli asked, taken aback by the question.
"Roron Corobb was his Padawan. I will see Master Poof again sometime when the next council meeting is," Shaak Ti replied and Luminara Unduli saw fear in Shaak Ti's eyes.
"Oh, no one will blame you, my dear," Luminara said with a dismissive wave of her hand and stroked Shaak Ti over her montrals.
"But I blame myself," Shaak Ti replied.
"But so much has happened in the meantime," her friend began to talk. "Imagine: Count Dooku is dead. Skywalker beheaded him aboard the Invisible Hand. And Obi-Wan and Skywalker landed safely back on Coruscant after freeing Palpatine from Grievous' clutches. So your efforts were not in vain."
Shaak Ti sighed in relief. But her eyes remained dull and sad.
"Dooku is dead?" she asked in disbelief.
"You don't regret that, do you?" Luminara asked back, even more incredulous.
"I still had a lot to say to him. And certainly not just me. And anyway… he would have belonged in court!"
"But you know as well as I do that that doesn't always work," the Mirialan replied harshly, as if she had to justify Dooku's death to herself.
"Can I speak to Obi-Wan?" Shaak Ti suddenly asked her friend.
"Of course," she replied after a puzzled hesitation.
"Thank you," Shaak Ti said in a weak voice after Luminara Unduli abruptly stood up to leave her friend's room.
The Mirialan didn't miss the fact that her friend's eyes were puffy and haggard-looking. Not from injuries - at least not of a purely physical nature. Rather, it seemed to her as if Shaak Ti had been whining incessantly before she entered her chamber. But she never would put her friend in the embarrassment of having to answer a direct question about that sad condition.
༺═───═༻
As expected, Shaak Ti was in her chambers when the Supreme Chancellor came to pay his respects.
"I have to thank the selfless Jedi who almost lost her life to protect me. Words cannot express my gratitude, Master Jedi," Palpatine assured Shaak Ti with a gracious smile.
"I'm glad you came to tell me that," Shaak Ti replied calmly, almost a little too calm for his euphoric opening words, in the Chancellor's opinion.
"We have managed to locate Grievous in the Utapau system. I can tell you that because I know how confidentially you treat such information, my dear," the Chancellor explained amiably.
"I hope this is the last time you have to locate him."
"I am confident that Master Skywalker will hunt down Grievous," Palpatine stated emphatically.
"I hope so too," Shaak Ti replied mechanically.
Palpatine smiled silently to himself. Luminara Unduli had therefore not exaggerated when, as his official advisor on Jedi matters, he had sympathetically asked her about Shaak Ti's fate and well-being. So Grievous had well followed his instructions to spare Shaak Ti so that she could spread the frightening news of the Chancellor's kidnapping in the temple. And now Palpatine felt a strong desire to conclude a very special matter in his own way. A matter that had begun much earlier... ever since he found out that Shaak Ti had had a daughter from his master... or even earlier? In any case, he wanted to get it done before the grand finale took place.
"You cannot imagine how dramatic it was what happened on the Invisible Hand three days ago after you stayed behind on Coruscant", he told her with emphasis. "General Skywalker acted harshly and decisively. And he didn't forget to save Master Kenobi, who was trapped by the debris that Dooku had rained down on him before Anakin could catch him and bring him to justice. But that was just the beginning…" Shaak Ti heard the Chancellor continue in a strangely deep sonorous voice.
She was getting tired.
"I'm very tired. Maybe we can talk about this another time," she offered to Palpatine.
"I'm just coming to the end," Palpatine assured her, only to immediately continue in the same sonorous voice.
He knew he was now on the right path. On his way. Buttering up and seducing hadn't worked three days ago. In retrospect, he realized that he had been rather clumsy in his conversation with Shaak Ti. He wasn't usually so awkward when it came to rhetorically circling and ensnaring others.
"You must present yourself so seductively and irresistibly to the Dark Side that it will show interest in you, my apprentice," Plagueis' words from a time long ago echoed through his mind. "Only then can you seduce them all!" Plagueis had added at the time, smugly and at the same time promisingly.
Instead, during his cozy tea party with Shaak Ti in his apartment, he had become rigid on the topic of the potentium theory... rigid... Not good at all!
Normally, Palpatine would gather information about the target of his ensnaring attempts in advance in order to prepare for such a conversation. But how when Shaak Ti was sent to his apartment so suddenly? While Plagueis had already known in advance who would soon visit him in the Kaldani Tower. But even without this information, he, Darth Sidious, had always had an excellent sense of the weaknesses or desires of his counterpart. Why not three days ago, when he had wanted it so badly? Had his desires gotten in the way? Clouded his view of something obvious? Him who didn't let anyone else confuse him? Him who didn't care about others? Had something changed?
Darth Sidious pushed these doubts aside to commit to the routine he had mastered so well, which had proven successful thirteen years ago.
"And as we rushed through the corridors of the Invisible Hand, Grievous unleashed a shield of radiation around us from above. Skywalker was hoping that R2D2 would come to help us, but then battle droids started appearing... more and more battle droids..."
Shaak Ti's eyelids fluttered.
"…super battle droids…" Sidious continued to drone on.
The Chancellor's pink face blurred before Shaak Ti's violet eyes. Her eyes closed. So she could no longer see the Chancellor's right hand, which suddenly made a movement she was very familiar with.
And then Shaak Ti fell asleep.
Palpatine approached the bed in which the Jedi Master was sleeping peacefully and innocently. He sat on the right edge of it and touched her right hand to check whether she was really firmly asleep. She slowly returned his hold. Shaak Ti's red fingers wrapped around his light pink ones. He looked at her eyes. They were still tightly closed. Does she subconsciously want it too? Does she still do something like that? With someone else? Here in the temple?
"Magisser Damass," he heard her pink lips suddenly mumble.
Sidious froze. Could it be? Was Shaak Ti still dreaming of his dead master even after these thirteen years? The whole time? Or had she just said something completely different?
His pale, slightly gouty hands pushed aside the layers of her robe above her belt. A red breast appeared. Palpatine's right hand stroked it thoughtfully. Shaak Ti's chest was firm yet soft enough. Exactly right. His other hand quickly reached for Shaak Ti's other, still hidden breast. He squeezed both breasts a little. He brushed against her nipples and felt them erect. A soft moan of pleasure escaped Darth Sidious.
With greedy, slightly erratic movements he took his hands away from her breasts and pushed her skirts up. He pulled down her underwear and pensively looked at her middle, which was now completely exposed to him.
Palpatine untied the belt of his dark blue Chancellor's robe. Standing outside Shaak Ti's door were two of his red-uniformed Senate guards, whom he had taken with him for his protection. But he was sure that no one here in the temple would harm him. It wouldn't take him long either. Maybe five standard minutes. And perhaps, if the timing was right, he would even father another child with the Jedi Master, as his master had been able to do thirteen years ago. He noticed in anticipation that he had already become stiff and hard between his legs.
His light pink hand gently stroked her center, which was red and inviting.
"Heeeegoo," he heard her now clearly saying lovingly in her sleep.
He froze again. The touch of his hand on Shaak Ti's middle froze into a motionless red and white sculpture. A shower of ice, colder than during his early training stints with his master on Mygeeto, raced down Sidious' spine. Then he felt everything in and around his middle suddenly become limp and weak.
Yes! Shaak Ti truly loved his dead master and still she does!
And long after his death, the Jedi never stopped drawing on this memory, even bringing it up when she felt like it - or unconsciously - like now. Just as Darth Malgus had thought about his Eleena again and again over three thousand years ago, day and night, even and especially after he had killed her with his own hands. So that no one could take her away from him and blackmail him with his weakness. But the Jedi Master, lying innocently in front of him, didn't have to go that far. He had done that for her. Shaak Ti should be grateful to him!
Palpatine desperately rubbed his best part again, tugged at it. He painfully realized it was useless. His penis remained as flaccid and as soft as it had been three minutes ago. It had always been that way. Either it worked straight away – or not at all. Previously, when he had just become Senator of Naboo, he had occasionally gone to certain establishments with his childhood friend Kinman Doriana. 'Because that's what you do occasionally,' Doriana had told him at the time.
But even if the Twi'lek ladies or women of his own species were nice and obliging, Palpatine eventually got tired of having to wait half an hour in the central bar room of the establishment for his compatriot from Naboo to come always made the most of his paid half hour with the lady of his choice. Every now and then one of the love servants would rush past the senator who was sitting lost at the bar and give him a look that was partly curious and partly pitying. Afterwards the two men had a drink together somewhere else.
At some point Palpatine lost interest in such nocturnal excursions. Until he noticed what his master had done on the last undisturbed night of his life. And above all, who he had been doing it with! Then the desire awakened in him again. But now he became painfully aware that his master had not taught him everything he knew and could do during his lifetime.
Darth Sidious heard heavy boot steps echoing across the hallway outside Shaak Ti's room. He knew those boot steps. At that moment he realized that he had forgotten to disguise his power presence as usual. He quickly did so. The boot steps were getting closer and closer.
He quickly pushed Shaak Ti's skirts back over her legs and covered her exposed breasts again. In order to immediately get his own dark blue robe into a neat state. He heard Mace Windu exchange some heated words with his two Senate Guardsmen outside the door.
High time to leave Shaak Ti's room again.
With a smile on his thin lips, Palpatine stepped to the door and made a reassuring gesture with his hand.
"Don't worry, Master Windu. I simply expressed my gratitude to Shaak Ti for her selfless efforts to save me from General Grievous. I will always have fond memories of her efforts," Palpatine explained in a pathetic voice and motioned to his two guardsmen stationed on either side of Shaak Ti's room door to follow him on the way to his glider waiting in front of the temple.
Mace Windu was left alone. He looked suspiciously after the Supreme Chancellor. The dark presence of power that he had just sensed seemed to have evaporated into thin air and pleasure. He went into Shaak Ti's room. The Jedi Master lay on the bed in front of him in her brown Jedi costume. He wondered if it was normal for Shaak Ti to fall asleep during a visit. Had the Togruta's presence really temporarily become so dark? Did Palpatine even have something to do with it? But it was obvious that his colleague would still need a lot of time to recover from Grievous' attack. Palpatine probably wanted to give her this time and simply let her sleep.
It was obvious to him that Shaak Ti couldn't go on any mission, or go back to Kamino, for the next three weeks. Now more than ever, Mace Windu wanted Grievous to finally be stopped. He was still wondering how Skywalker would react if he found out that the Council had decided that his former master Obi-Wan, rather than him, should carry out this task.
As Palpatine rode the glider back to his apartment in the Republica 500 building, an uncontrollable anger welled up within him. He felt anger at his old master, who had just lived up to his Sith name. Only a few minutes ago he had truly managed, as he had done during his lifetime, to deny his former student exactly what he wanted most. Darth Plagueis had also managed, even after his death, to protect the woman he had cared for during his lifetime from being attacked by his traitorous apprentice. Shaak Ti only had to call him by name.
Oh, how he still hated Darth Plagueis! Yes, Darth Plagueis was indeed a nuisance to Sidious - then and now. But the Dark Lord of the Sith also knew that the day would soon come when Shaak Ti, like all other Jedi, would have no escape! Even Darth Plagueis wouldn't be able to help her anymore! He grinned to himself as he exited his glider.
༺═───═༻
The next day, Obi-Wan Kenobi came to Shaak Ti's room. For the first time since Grievous' last attack on her, Shaak Ti's violet eyes glowed slightly red with joy.
"Master Shaak Ti. I hope you are feeling better," Obi-Wan began the conversation.
"What about Grievous? Is he still alive?" Shaak Ti asked bluntly.
"We are looking for him and will hunt him down. I promise you that," Obi-Wan said with conviction.
"It was like that vision from thirteen years ago. Only this time the lightning was yellow and Grievous's laughter sounded more metallic. But otherwise it was exactly the same," Shaak Ti said suddenly and her violet eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"What are you talking about?" Obi-Wan asked in surprise.
Shaak Ti hesitantly told him about the course of their mission to save Chancellor Palpatine.
"And he was always so calm. As if this had just been a slightly more exciting tea party for him. Was he so stoically on the Invisible Hand too?" Shaak Ti asked Obi-Wan about the Chancellor.
"Yes, he was extremely composed and dignified. And he has remarkable physical conditioning, as both I and Anakin discovered during our escape," Obi-Wan confirmed Shaak Ti's impression of the Chancellor.
"Grievous took my lightsaber. I don't think I deserve one anymore."
"Please don't say anything like that. How many times do you think Anakin has lost his lightsaber during his missions? And so far he has always gotten a new one. And you'll be building a new one soon. I know that," Obi-Wan tried to cheer her up.
"Obi-Wan, are you still thinking about Satine?" Shaak Ti abruptly changed the subject again.
"Why are you asking me that?" Obi-Wan asked irritated.
"It's like this: I contacted you after Hego Damask's death to borrow R2D2 to find his murderer. You know Satine's murderer. Is it easier to deal with this than if you didn't know who did it?"
"I cannot say that. However, I still think about her occasionally. These are beautiful memories that only belong to me and that's it. Even though I know other Jedi have different opinions on the matter," Obi-Wan replied.
"You've seen her more often?" Shaak Ti continued.
"Forgive me, but I don't want to talk about it," he said defensively.
"But I want to talk about it now!" Shaak Ti said, sitting up in her bed. "Ever since I was in Hego Damask's apartment, I kept thinking about him. I think the reason it was so intense was because it was only supposed to be for one time. Just this once! We both agreed on that. If I had known what dimension those words would have just one day later after his death, I would never have gone on this mission. And yet I would do it again and again. Precisely because it can never happen again – do you understand?"
"Not really," Obi-Wan said perplexed.
He saw tears streaming from her eyes again. Shaak Ti began to sob.
"Every night since then I have thought about him before I went to sleep. I blamed myself for not staying there one more night."
"But then the murderer would have just waited and come the next night," Obi-Wan countered, while Shaak Ti continued to cry, sometimes quieter and sometimes louder.
"I dream about him every night. That was so beautiful back then in the Kaldani Tower. I could talk to him about anything. Really about everything – you understand? Were you able to talk to Satine about everything too?"
"Master Ti! These are not the thoughts a Jedi should have – I beg of you!"
But Shaak Ti cried even louder now and took his hand.
"And still, that's the way it is. That night in the Kaldani Tower with Hego Damask was the most beautiful experience of my entire life. And what now? We rush from one mission to the next not knowing what tomorrow will bring. There will be no more peace. Only war. It's going to get worse and worse. Don't you notice that?"
"Master Ti – please," Obi-Wan said helplessly.
"And even Grievous's death won't change that. It will always go on like this!" she predicted and let his hand go again. "While true peace for me only existed in Hego Damask's apartment," she confessed to him, crying and looking challengingly into his blue eyes.
"I understand you. I felt the same way back in the throne room on Mandalore after Maul killed Satine. But I knew this would pass. I was freed and I returned. And I overcame it. You are weakened now – you just need some time to regain your strength."
"That's what they said to Fives back then," Shaak Ti sobbed again. "And I believed that at the time too. What if Fives was right? What if there really are some crude commands stored on these chips? Orders to kill Jedi, like Master Tiplar was killed?"
Obi-Wan jumped briefly. He could still clearly see the image of Count Dooku using a Force yank to draw Tiplar's red sister Tiplee towards him a month ago on that asteroid near Ord Mantell - just as Maul had done with Satine before he had driven the Death Watch's darksaber through the Duchess of Mandalore's heart... Obi-Wan could still see the tip of Dooku's red blade emerging from Tiplee's back in his mind - while Maul, standing next to Dooku, had grinned meanly. But now Dooku was dead. And Maul had disappeared once again.
"I don't want to go back to Kamino anymore! Nala Se was mean to me. The Kaminoans don't want me there. They're hiding things from me that I, that the Jedi need to know!" she burst out again, as another stream of tears left her eyes.
"But – that's completely absurd," Obi-Wan said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "How about, instead of wallowing in self-doubt, you get up now and come with me to the training grounds to watch the padawans and younglings practice lightsabers? Here in this chamber you are trapped within yourself. At least now. However, some fresh air would do you good. I beg you!"
"Good," Shaak Ti replied simply, getting up from her bed. Obi-Wan smiled at her. The two Jedi Masters then went to the temple's training grounds.
Shaak Ti watched contentedly as her daughter sparred with Mace Windu. She knew that Mace Windu's last padawan, Depa Billaba, had now become a respected Jedi Master herself and was currently training a padawan of her own. She just saw Mace Windu show Ashla a jab of the Vaapad. With this, Ashla would not only be able to ward off Force lightning from the Sith, but would even be able to send it back to its origin. Who had to be able to generate Force lightning themselves, as Chancellor Palpatine had suggested to her just a week ago? No, she couldn't ask for a better master for her young daughter. Shaak Ti smiled contentedly.
Then she looked gratefully at Obi-Wan.
"You were right, Obi-Wan. I thank you."
"You're welcome. Would you like to have something to eat with me?"
"With pleasure," she replied.
In the cantina of the Jedi Temple they met Master Yarael Poof. His height of over six feet and his thin neck always reminded Shaak Ti of the Kaminoans ever since she knew the rain planet. Now the red-eyed master from the planet Quermia looked at her with a gentle gaze and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"It's nice that you're with us again," he said to Shaak Ti with a smile. And Shaak Ti smiled back, relieved.
Author's Note: This chapter still contains the ending of the second "Clone Wars" comic film by Genndy Tartakovsky. You can read the story of the death of Jedi Master Tiplee, Tiplar's sister, in the comic "Son of Dathomir", which is about Darth Maul's further fate after "The Outlaws" from TCW, Season 5. Otherwise, everything in this chapter was made on my own crap.