Chapter 24

Traps within Traps

Palpatine's personal shuttle, the one he used for clandestine trips, and so had used rarely over the previous years, descended through the cloud cover over Eriadu. The Emperor's only companion was Grand Moff Tarkin, who piloted the craft and would be the one to command the Imperial forces on Eriadu. Wanting to keep his presence on the world secret to avoid scaring Maul off but also wanting unquestioning obedience from the military and intelligence commanders on Eriadu, Tarkin was the perfect solution. Having been born on the planet his presence would raise no eyebrows. And as a Grand Moff he had authority over both military and intelligence personnel. Only Palpatine himself held higher rank in the Empire. He would be obeyed without raising suspicion.

There was of course, Palaptine knew, the chance that his other preparations had already roused suspicion, but he hoped the bait he had placed on Eriadu would blind his enemies, both known and unknown, to the trap they were walking into. The Grand Inquisitor had been traipsing around Eriadu, flaunting his ridiculously unearned title, for days now. Several of the few full-fledged Inquisitors he had left had rather publicly accompanied him, a pitifully small number of followers for one who thought mastery of them made him grand. Palpatine had known Maul for the Zabrak's entire adult life. He knew how the dog would salivate at the chance to kill so many of his enemies all at once. And if, as Palpatine suspected, Maul had recruited allies in his quest for vengeance, then the number of targets, spread all around the capitol city of Eriadu, would force them to reveal themselves as well. And when they were all on the board, Palpatine would pick them off one by one. He would save Maul for last, so that he could take his time and enjoy his work.

Tarkin, at the front of the shuttle manning the controls, had bristled at being told he was to serve as a lowly pilot for the day. His wounded pride was not salved by the prospect of returning home. Coruscant was where power was to be found, and that was the only place Tarkin wanted to be. Eriadu was not exactly a backwater, but it was certainly a place where efficient mediocrities made their careers, slowly fattening themselves on the not inconsiderable wealth produced on the planet. Spending the day giving such dullards orders would be a tiresome affair no doubt, but the Grand Moff dared not question the orders, or even appear to. Palpatine's mood had been growing increasingly violent and erratic in recent months. One never knew what he would do. And so it was real terror that coldly crept up Tarkin's spine as he heard the Emperor chuckling to himself in the rear compartment. Tarkin sped up his descent, hoping to get some distance between him and his master as soon as possible.

In a tower in the center of Eriadu City, Maul stood at an open window, watching the plaza below. He could see the stormtroopers marching to-and-fro, carrying out their pitiful little patrols; ants searching for a lion, mice scurrying about under the eyes of the hawk. He could see himself tearing through their ranks, his double bladed saber melting through their white armor like fire consuming paper. A shame, he thought, that stealth was still at such a premium. These new troopers were weak in their mind and spirit, no match for the clones of yesteryear. Their fear would have fueled his power, brought him to new heights of intensity and focus. But there was a more important target on Eriadu now. Maul could feel his presence, like a shadow across the stars. Palpatine was here, looking for him, just as predicted. Soon he would reveal himself to his old master. Soon he would have his revenge.

An elevator door opened behind Maul and Quinlan Vos stepped through it onto the otherwise empty floor. The building was a part of the overbuilding that had accompanied the influx of Republic money during the Clone Wars. Eriadu companies had won major weapons and logistic contracts after choosing to stay with the Republic and the momentarily fabulously wealthy Eriadu elite had spent their riches as though the war would never end. But it had ended, and while the war economy had never been shut down, it was no longer being run through private companies like those found on Eriadu. The capitol city was full of these mammoth, empty husks of buildings; monuments to a commerce that had been replaced by centralized brutal efficiency. There were a few firms with headquarters on the lower floors, but Maul and Vos were so high up that there was no one within fifty levels of them.

Maul considered Vos, as he had done so many times during their journeys together. His power, which had been evident to Maul at their first meeting, was still undeniable. His skill with the lightsaber, if anything, outstripped his strength with the Force. Maul doubted whether he had met more than a handful of Jedi who would have made more formidable opponents than Master Vos. Skywalker himself certainly, the cursed Kenobi of course, and, while he had never fought them, Windu and Yoda. Those were names he had known only from Darth Sidious' warnings. They were never to be engaged. But Vos was clearly stronger than Qui Gon Jinn and other philosophers of his ilk. He had also clearly walked a long way down the path to the darkness. From what Maul could glean from the conversations between Vos and Ventress, he had turned back at some point. Perhaps to save her out of some pathetic romantic impulse. But while his descent had been arrested, he had not returned to the Jedi fold, and that meant there was an opportunity. Who knew what a little fear, a little rage and a little loss might work in Quinlan Vos? Maul, his mind already on the post-Imperial galaxy and the opportunities that awaited him, had given a great deal of thought to how to bend the Kiffar to his will. Ventress was the key of course, and she was rejoining them on Eriadu that very day.

If he could find a way to make sure Ventress was killed, Maul felt certain he could guide Vos down the path towards the darkness. Vengeance was a powerful motivator, as Maul knew better than anyone. Maul had toyed with the idea of trying to turn Ventress, for then Vos would have likely followed her. But it had not taken long to realize that she had already known the dark side, and had intentionally turned her back on it. She was a lost cause, and as long as she was alive Vos would remain so as well. And he needed Vos. Skywalker was too powerful for Maul to fight alone. He was likely too powerful for even Maul and Vos together. But the right planning and preparation could overcome even the mightiest Force user. But he would need Vos' help, and so Maul prepared himself for what he must do. There would surely be a moment in the fighting tonight where Ventress would be vulnerable and Maul would either kill her himself or, better yet, arrange matters so that Palpatine or an Inquisitor would do it. After that Barriss would be trivially easy to either recruit or eliminate, as the situation called for.

"It's time to go," Vos said. "I told Ventress we would meet them closer to the safehouse, and the Inquisitors are already on the move."

"The game is afoot," Maul said as he turned towards Vos. "I have waited so very long for this moment my friend. I find I can barely contain my excitement."

"We aren't friends, and we haven't won yet," Vos said flatly.

"So dour!" Maul said mockingly as the two of them walked towards the elevator. "Battles don't get easier just because you force yourself not to enjoy them."

"I am not forcing myself to do anything," Vos said.

As they entered the elevator a smile spread across Maul's face. Yes you do, he thought to himself, that is why you will be mine.

The Grand Inquisitor did not see the point of what he was being made to do. The safehouse was abandoned, its windows as dark as the empty neighborhood in which it was located. There was no way the agents of the renegade Jedi had failed to notice the presence of his Inquisitors and their security detail these past few days. If this operation had been done correctly ISB would have identified likely locations for the safehouse and the Inquisitors would have arrived hours, perhaps minutes, before the strike was made against the Jedi's agents. But Palpatine had been insistent and there was nothing the Grand Inquisitor could have done to gainsay him. The entire Inquisitorius, a small number given recent losses, was on Eriadu and had been marching around making a spectacle of themselves for days. Now they weren't even going to arrive in force. They were, rather, going to come two by two, with their stormtrooper escort hanging back until the order to lend support was given. He understood that they were being used as bait, but there was a way to do that while giving them a fighting chance. Maul had attacked a group of three Inquisitors, there was no reason to think he would run away if they brought four. That would still leave two in reserve, and of course there was the Emperor himself hanging back in the shadows, waiting for whatever reaction he was trying to provoke.

But here he was, watching as two of his most senior Inquisitors approached the house, so far away from them that he had to use binocs to make them out. He had with him three other Inquisitors, two of which would proceed towards the house as soon as the first pair had entered and given the all-clear. This much at least made sense. Maul might not attack the first two Inquisitors for fear of a trap, but the appearance of the second pair would convince him that he had time to take each duo in turn. Once he was drawn out all forces would converge on his position, with the killing blow to be given to the Emperor. This had been made very clear to all; any who killed Maul before Sidious was able to engage him would themselves be killed.

"We are in the building. No sign of anyone on the first floor," Third Brother said over the communicator.

"Go now," the Grand Inquisitor ordered Fifth Brother and Eighth Sister. After they left it was just him and Twelfth Brother in the room. All the other Inquisitors were dead. The Grand Inquisitor felt certain he would be left with more holes to fill in his ranks after this night.

It was around the time Fifth Brother and Eighth Sister had made it halfway to the safehouse that he felt it. It was there, like cold breath in his lungs, a moment before the screaming began. But when the battle in the safehouse started there was more shouting than scream at first; sounds of anger and shock which slowly morphed into shrieks of fear before falling silent. And one thing the Grand Inquisitor was sure of was that all the screams came from his Inquisitors. He looked down at the computer readout on his wrist that showed him the life signs of his operatives and watched as the lights for the two lead Inquisitors faded into darkness.

"Retreat!" he yelled into his communicator. He could see the second group in the boulevard outside his window. They turned back towards him and started to run when two yellow lightsabers sprang to life on the roof of a building above and just behind them. The Grand Inquisitor did not have time to warn them before the slight but nimble figure which held the twin sabers jumped down onto them. Fifth Brother and Eight Sister were able to defend themselves with their double bladed sabers, but the surprise attack had put them on the defensive, and their attacker moved too quickly for them to steady themselves. This was no doubt Ventress, someone whose file the Grand Inquisitor had studied closely and who he even had a dim memory of from her time as an adolescent in the Temple. She slid between the two Inquisitors, causing their simultaneous downward blows to only hit the other's saber, then behind one who was turned into a shield against the second, then repeated the same trick with the roles of her opponents reversed. She was not going for the kill, he realized, she was keeping them in play. That could only mean that the attackers from the safehouse were on their way. He brought his attention away from the fight in the empty street towards the house in the distance and he could make out two sabers, one green and one doubled bladed red, making their way towards the fight, and moving fast.

"With me!" he called out to Twelfth Brother, and then jumped out the window, his companion following close behind. As he fell the four stories, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and twisted to avoid the blue and green sabers that flashed out from the second story window. The movement unbalanced him and he hit the ground with a rough roll rather than the graceful landing he had intended. As he sprang up he saw that Twelfth Brother's landing had been worse, for it had come twice, the top half of him hitting the ground several feet ahead of the bottom half. The perpetrator of this bisection stood before the Grand Inquisitor, and he needed no file or dim memories to recognize her. He had been among the guards to arrest Barriss Offee in the Temple and escort her to Republic detention after her grandiose statement before the court trying Ahsoka Tano. He had also been the one to move her, in the confused days after the attack on the Temple, to the prison ship that Skywalker would commandeer a few weeks after. He immediately pressed his attack and was able to quickly put the younger Jedi on the defensive. She was having trouble matching the speed of his attacks, despite her two sabers, and so tried to make a controlled retreat towards her compatriots. This brought the Grand Inquisitor's attention back towards his last Two Inquisitors, who had yet to land a hit on Asajj Ventress. For a moment the Grand Inquisitor thought he could push Offee into that fight quickly enough that she would run out of room and he would be able to dispatch her and help take down the more formidable Ventress all before Maul and his unknown companion arrived. But that moment passed quickly when he heard Maul's snarling, guttural battle shout and watched as he plunged into the fray.

With a strength born from desperation the Grand Inquisitor knocked one of the sabers from Offee's hands and then quickly managed a disarm of the remaining saber. But before he could land the killing blow, he discovered the identity of Maul's companion. If he had not been so quickly put on the defensive by Quinlan Vos' attack he would have been able to appreciate how surprised he was at the Jedi Master's presence in the fight. The Grand Inquisitor gave ground before the assault from the more skilled and more powerful Vos, giving time for Offee to recover her sabers.

Meanwhile Ventress and Maul were occupied with the two remaining Inquisitors. To Ventress' mind they should have been easy work, and would have been if Maul had fought properly. But it seemed to her that he was missing every opening for a killing stroke. At first she thought he was simply toying with them, like a bored cat. But he was not just keeping them alive unnecessarily long when the two of them could have been helping with the Grand Inquisitor, he was from time to time pulling back in a way that left her to face both of them. She felt confident she could stand up to both, but not confident she could defeat the pair on her own. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Barriss get to her feet and look first towards her and Maul and then towards Quinlan, who was pushing the Grand Inquisitor further and further away from them.

"Come help!" Ventress shouted at Offee, just before one of the two Inquisitors came flying at her. The large man hit her not with a fist or foot, but rather with his back, sending both of them to the ground, with Ventress beneath him. As she was momentarily pinned under him she realized it had not been intentional move on his part. He had been thrown, and Ventress had an idea by whom. She had no time think about why Maul had done so however, because the other Inquisitor, a slender woman with yellow skin, brought her saber down in a curving arc aimed at Ventress' head. With her arms pinned beneath the male Inquisitor, who seemed dazed, she was unable to block the strike. Instead she summed her rage at the seeming betrayal by Maul and pushed down with her hands. Channeling the Force through her she created a tremendous recoil, which propelled the Inquisitor on top of her into body of his partner, sending her saber off target as Ventress did a backflip to get distance between them.

She landed nimbly on her feet and had to immediately duck as Maul's saber passed through the air where he head had just been, seemingly as a part of a wild swing towards the two Inquisitors, but Ventress was certain she had been the target. As the two Inquisitors got their blades up to block Maul he quickly glanced over at her and gritted his teeth. For a moment Ventress considered plunging her blades into his side while his blade was locked with the two blades of their enemies. She never got a chance to make that choice, for a sound cut through the night air, freezing everyone in their tracks. It was a cruel guttural laugh, and no one reacted more strongly than did Maul, whose eyes widened in terror.

Standing on the roof of one of the nearby buildings stood Palpatine, hooded and robed in black. He held his hands in the air, at about the height of his shoulders, on either side of him. His first target was Offee, who shot upwards into the air, her face showing the effort she was expending to struggle against the power that was holding her arms and legs rigidly in place. Her ascent came to a stop and for half a second she floated in place before being thrown violently against one of the buildings on the side of the boulevard opposite Palpatine. With Vos distracted by Palpatine's appearance the Grand Inquisitor, who had known this was coming, pressed his attack. Years of training gave Vos the instincts necessary to get his blade up, but he was off balance and all but tripping over himself as he gave ground. Ventress moved to assist him before she was hit by a massive barrage of Force Lightning. The two other Inquisitors stepped slowly away from Maul, who had been unable to take his eyes off of Darth Sidious.

After a few seconds Vos was able to get his feet solidly beneath him and repel the Grand Inquisitor's attacks. But with Ventress out of the way Palpatine was able to turn his attention to the Jedi Master and a fresh stream of lightning flew towards him. Vos pulled one hand away from the hilt of his saber and pulled one of Barriss' sabers to him as he turned his own saber to block the Force lightning. The Grand Inquisitor was surprised by this move and as a result attacked a half second too late and Vos was able to parry with Barriss' weapon.

For whatever reason this was the moment when Maul was shaken out of his shock. With a shriek of rage he leapt towards his former master, forcing him to cease his attack on Vos. Palpatine activated his own saber and the two began an acrobatic martial dance across the roofs of the buildings. Vos' moment of respite was short, however, for the two Inquisitors who had, in accordance with their orders, pulled away from Maul and charged him from behind. He dodged and weaved as well as he could manage, but under attack from three opponents he was unable to avoid taking several glancing blows on his arms and midsection. After the last of them the Grand Inquisitor Force pushed him towards the wall of the nearest building.

"You were a fool Master Vos," he said. "A fool to fight what has always been inevitable."

The three of them advanced towards the supine Vos, whose head had struck both the wall and the ground. He lifted his neck enough to see Maul getting his saber hilt cut in half. He shifted his focus to the three oncoming Inquisitors, but could still recognize the light of the eruption of Palpatine's Force Lightning. He knew that he did not have the strength to rise to fight them. He wondered for a moment whether the plan had failed, but the noticed the largest of the Inquisitors stop in his tracks as the other two continued their march towards him, who had not noticed him falling out of line. But they noticed when he was pulled sharply and suddenly into the gloomy darkness further down the boulevard, and saw when the blue lightsaber sprang to life just in time for the Inquisitor to be impaled upon it. With seemingly no delay the female Inquisitor reached for her neck, dropping her saber in the process. The Grand Inquisitor watched befuddled as she fell choking to her knees. He had the same look of incomprehension when Anakin Skywalker emerged from the shadows, at the apex of his jump, his lightsaber blazing in the night. The Grand Inquisitor lifted his lightsaber up in a vain attempt to defend himself, but the power of Anakin's downswing knocked it from his grasp. With a speed that surprised even Vos, Anakin spun around and sliced across the Grand Inquisitor's chest, cutting through armor, skin, flesh and bone.

Anakin turned to face Palpatine whose barrage of Force Lightning had pushed Maul's smoking body off the roof. But Palpatine had no time to finish off the target of his trap, for the greater threat, the greatest threat, was before him.

"You should have joined me Master Skywalker," Palpatine said. "Think of what we might have accomplished."

"I should have killed you when you were at my mercy. But I have learned from my mistakes," Anakin said.

"You could have learned from much more than your mistakes if you had followed the path of wisdom," Palpatine responded.

"Let me show you what the years have taught me," Anakin said darkly.

To this Palpatine responded with a mad cackle. He had been stalling, waiting for the final element of his trap to arrive. Over the buildings in the distance Anakin could see dozens of troop carriers flying towards him. He turned around and saw that there were ships coming from every point on the horizon. Palpatine had brought a small army with him. After his turn was complete and he was once again facing Palpatine, Anakin nodded slowly as Palpatine continued to laugh. What finally stopped the Dark Lord's jocularity was the smile that slowly spread across Anakin's face.

"I told you once that you would beg for death before I killed you. It is time," Anakin said.

While this battle between Jedi and Inquisitors played itself out Wilhuff Tarkin had been sitting in a mobile command center miles away. In the weeks where the Inquisitors had been very publicly presenting themselves to the eyes of rebel spies on Eriadu, Tarkin had been moving men and materiel onto the planet in order to execute the Emperor's plan. The plan had been to use the Inquisitors as bait to draw the rebel forces, especially the Force Sensitive ones, out. Then the Emperor would personally intervene, an incredibly foolish risk on Tarkin's way of thinking, but one he had to deal with because the Emperor had been implacable on this point.

The soldiers he was now sending to back the Emperor up had been meant to perform mop up duties. There had been a chance that the ex-Jedi who had been hunting the Inquisitors would bring ground forces to support them and, as Tarkin knew as well as anyone, with sufficient ground forces one could overwhelm even the strongest of Force users.

"Do we have visuals of the site yet?" Tarkin asked impatiently.

"Coming online now sir," one of the officers said. With a click of a few buttons the wide street came into view in the holoprojector. The image was imperfect given that it was being reconstructed from the scanners on the troop carriers that were still more than a mile away from the site, but Tarkin felt confident he saw only two active participants left. One was clearly the Emperor, for his life signs had been actively tracked the entire time. The other, clearly a Jedi or ex-Jedi stood amongst the bodies, some no doubt still living. The Jedi was not moving. They stood in the street but did not appear at all hurried by the small army that was approaching.

"Are the scanners picking up any concentrated life signs? That area is supposed to be nearly empty," Tarkin said.

"Just scattered individuals, likely indigents," came the answer from some functionary. Another Eriadu irrelevancy, Tarkin thought, no doubt thinking that their shared birthplace was the key to advancement during this mission. Well they would have to do better than these bland, incurious reports to achieve that.

"Wait sir," an ensign said. "Scanners are picking something up in the industrial zone."

"Picking what up?" Tarkin barked.

"Not sure sir, whatever it is, it is moving low along the rooftops, but moving at speed. Could be ships sir," came the answer.

"Sir," another officer yelled. "We are getting reports of several ships taking off at once, without permission, from the city spaceport."

"What kinds of ships?" Tarkin yelled.

"Looks like several light frieghters, but they are moving towards the battle," someone said.

"Sir! Getting some readings on the ships in the industrial zone. We have a U-Wing and several T-65's," went another report.

Tarkin stood up from his chair, "Those are rebel ships! How did they get here? When did they jump into the system?"

"Scanners show no ships of that kind arriving anytime recently sir," said the nervous officer closest to Tarkin.

"Have you relayed this information to the transports and their fighter escort?" Tarkin asked sharply.

"Yes sir, but by now the ships are close enough to the transports that they can probably see them," a lieutenant answered.

"Well tell the fighters to get between the transports and those ships!" Tarkin ordered.

"They're already under attack sir!" said a communication specialist.

"What?" Tarkin asked. The oncoming ships were not in weapons range yet.

"Its hard to make out sir, but I am hearing talk of being attacked from the ground!" the communication specialist said.

"Confirmed sir! Anti-ship missiles being fired from the surface. Hand held systems judging by the size of them," an ensign said.

"Where are they firing from?" Tarkin roared.

"From the area around the safe house sir!" was the answer.

"But…but we cleared that area. We did a scanner sweep! There was no one there!" an uncharacteristically out of control Tarkin screamed. Most setbacks could be taken in stride, but the Emperor was here. The Emperor was imperiled, and he would surely blame Tarkin.

"There might have been tunnels we did not find in our initial search," someone offered. Tarkin ignored him. There would be time for analysis of the mistakes later, but if things did not change quickly he knew that he would not be alive to hear it.

"Sir, the fighter escort is gone!" an ensign said.

"Tell the transports to land now, wherever they are, and get their soldiers off!" Tarkin ordered.

"Sir, the rebel fighters have reached weapons range," an officer said darkly.

Tarkin sat back down, stunned by the rapid turn of fortune. As he sat there the holoimage grew clearer and he was able to see the Emperor and the lone Jedi locked in combat. The increasing resolution allowed Tarkin to recognize the face of Anakin Skywalker, and his despair reached new depths.

Saw Gerrera, flying his U-Wing, sent the last TIE Fighter fall to the ground a spinning, flaming wreck. It was time to hit the troop transports. He and his squadron of fighters, a force that had taken years to scrape together, moved in for the kill. The Imperials were trying to land and offload their soldiers before being blown out of the sky, and most of them did not succeed. Saw's fighters managed to take out a dozen of them on their first pass, and as they turned around to mop up the rest Saw could make out the light frigates in the distance. They were put in the plan to provide some extra firepower but also to get the Jedi off the surface.

Saw finished his turn back and managed to take out several more troop transports, and each of his pilots hit just as many. Several of them had managed to land, but he left taking out the troopers they had delivered to the frigates.

"Sir, we lost two!" one of those pilots said.

"What? What do you mean?" Saw yelled back over the comm channel.

"I was tracking four of them on my turn back. I got one, and one landed in the street and I pinged it for the frigates to get, but two of them aren't on my scopes at all anymore," he responded.

"Maybe someone else got them," Saw suggested.

"No, they were in my sector and they were on the far wing. I think they got really low and landed in one of the alleyways," the pilot said.

"Damn! Ok, I will let the Jedi know. Do a couple of sweeps and see if you can find them. We are on the clock people!" Saw shouted back. They had counted on Palpatine not wanting to involve normal forces any more than he had to, so Saw was counting on the fact that the call to the orbiting Star Destroyers to launch fighters had only gone out a few minutes before. They had around 10 minutes before the first wave of fighters got to them, 30 minutes before all fighter wings could be brought to bear. The operation was in Skywalker's hands now.

While Saw was worrying, Anakin was attacking. The swings of his saber were powerful and brutal, the thrusts lightning quick. Palpatine had never faced strength on this level before. His normal acrobatics were unavailable to him, for just holding on to his saber when Anakin's made contact was absorbing most of his attention. There was no art to what Skywalker was doing. He was channeling his unbelievable strength with the Force through his body, augmenting the power of his attacks. If Palpatine allowed things to carry on that way, he would soon be tired out, and Anakin would be able to finish him off easily.

In an attempt to break out Palpatine pulled one hand off his hilt and allowed his sword arm to be pushed to the side of his body, leaving him exposed to Anakin's blade. But with this free hand Palpatine shot Force Lightning at the Jedi. Anakin mirrored Palpatine's own move by pulling one hand from his hilt and using it to grab the wrist of Palpatine's own sword arm, while he blocked the lightning with his blue saber. Then, with a speed that caught Palpatine by surprise, he delivered a stout kick to the Sith Lord's midsection. The blow sent Palpatine flying back. Anakin's grip on his wrist was strong enough that Palpatine's arm was dislocated as he shot backwards, and as a result he dropped his saber. Palpatine landed hard on his back and barely flipped out of the way as Anakin brought his blade down where chest had been. It was a near enough thing that Anakin's blade burned through the robes Palpatine was wearing.

Landing on his feet Palpatine tried to Force Choke Anakin, but Skywalker Force Pushed him so hard in return that it felt like he had been hit by a boulder. Palpatine's feet flew over his head and he rolled several times before coming to a stop. Anakin was far stronger than he had been during their battle on Coruscant, and now Palpatine realized it. As he stood up Palpatine realized that the boy had surpassed him. He lacked art, subtlety and sophistication in his use of the Force, but with strength such as his that did not matter. It was like trying to fence with a Krayt dragon. Palpatine knew he could not win. He had to buy himself time, and create some space to put between them. He put all his rage and hate into a Force Push which hit Anakin like a gale hitting a mountain. Palpatine had hoped it would push the young Jedi back, but it only managed to stop him in his tracks. Nonetheless it did create separation between them, for the equal and opposite reaction of his failed push sent Palpatine backwards into the air. When he landed he unleashed a storm of lightning at Anakin that equaled anything he had produced before. Weaker assaults had managed to render Count Dooku submissive, and would have been sufficient to kill Maul.

Anakin did not bother to block the lightning with his saber. He simply reached out a gloved hand and caught the storm, concentrating it into a small ball of intensely bright light before sending it straight back at Palpatine. Long years of study of Sith sorcery had equipped him to shield himself, at least partially, from the effects of the energy being sent back his way, but it still felt as though every cell in his body was exploding all at once. He was not even aware of having been thrown back again. The distance between himself and Anakin was now significantly greater than he had hoped for, but Palpatine was struggling to get to his feet and make use of the opportunity to flee. Despite his age he had kept himself in fighting trim, and he usually was able to use his knowledge of and strength in the Force to amplify his physical abilities. But his exertions against Anakin, and having been hit with such a mammoth amount of Force energy, had left him almost completely spent. When he tried to flee he was slowed by a limp. Behind him he could hear Anakin laughing. He could feel Skywalker's hate, the joy he took in his enemy's pain, in his pain. How had he failed? The boy had been so close that day on Coruscant. Palpatine had felt it. And now he was here, a Sith in all but name. A living embodiment of the Force, giving his emotions free reign, powerful beyond all conception, and he was hunting the last Sith Lord. If he had not been so terrified Palpatine would have been amused by the irony. He had seduced Skywalker to the Dark Side, but in so doing seemed to have sealed his own doom.

But then Palpatine heard the sound of his deliverance. In the darkness ahead of him he could make out the sound of many boots on the pavement. These were not, however, the armored boots of Storm Troopers, none of whom seemed to have survived the attack of the fighters he had seen shoot past him while fighting Anakin. These were the heavier black boots worn by his Inquisitors, while they still lived at least. They were close, and they would be with their master soon. This thought emboldened him and gave him the energy to pick up his speed. There was a chance, small though it was, that he might still escape.

Anakin had heard the sound as well, and was angry that his moment of victory long planned for was going to be spoiled. He had wanted to take his time, to ensure that Palpatine understood that he had lost, to know who had beaten him, and how. Now it seemed he would have to dispatch the tyrant quickly so he could deal with whatever was headed towards the building whose roof he was now running across. He lifted his hand and squeezed and Palpatine fell clutching his throat. It was then that the unexpected force revealed itself. At least six of them jumped from the alley that separated the building Anakin and Palpatine were on top of from the next, and landed on the roof. The leap alone marked them as Force Sensitive, but if there had been any doubt the red lightsabers that sprang to life in their hands would have put it to rest. They were sprinting towards Anakin, and the space they vacated was quickly filled by another group of around the same size landing after their own jump.

They passed Palpatine by as he got back on his feet. The vice grip Anakin had held on his throat was gone and the Sith Lord was able to continue his limping flight. Anakin had loosed his grip not out of mercy, or the desire to conserve his strength, but out of simple shock. The Inquisitors rushing at him had at first struck him as strangely short, so short in fact that Anakin had thought for a moment that Palpatine had given in and started training non-humans. Only as they advanced did Anakin realize the truth, a truth which stopped him in his tracks even as Palpatine shuffled away into the darkness.

They were children. Not younglings, at least not all of them, but the oldest of them would have been of the age to be Padawans and no more. Anakin froze, unsure of what to do as they charged him. His years of training allowed him to evaluate, without having to consciously think of it, that they were poorly trained and weak. He could cut through them with ease. He would have to in order to catch Palpatine who was surely headed to whatever transport had brought these children here. He thought for a second of just ignoring them, rushing through them or jumping over them. But a split second's thought was enough to realize that such a tactic would only get him overwhelmed from behind.

As the first reached him, blade spinning, Anakin's instincts made the decision for him. He pushed the boy firmly away, sending him flying wildly backwards. He locked sabers with the next closest and quickly disarmed them. As he turned to the third a well-placed kick knocked out the disarmed teenager. Pushing, pulling, punching and kicking was sufficient to immobilize and knock out all his attackers in short order. It took him less than a minute to clear the roof of the fodder Palpatine had sent his way. He looked up to the sky when he was done and saw no ship. Palpatine must have been flying the transport low. He had lost him.

Anakin turned in place and looked around at the bodies of the unconscious children strewn about the roof. A few faces seemed familiar, and he wondered if he had seen these children in the Temple once upon a time. A spotlight illuminated him and Anakin looked up to see the two frigates they had arranged to come here to transport them away. Now they would carry more than he had intended.

"Quinlan!" Anakin shouted. "Barriss! Ventress! Get up here!"

He could feel their minds stirring. Quinlan's mind was the clearest and Anakin could sense that he was already on his way. After a few moments he jumped onto the building and then turned to help Ventress up. She was still groggy and clearly injured. Barriss did not even attempt to use the Force to get up, and appeared at the top of a stairwell on the backside of the building.

"Get them in the ships. We don't have much time," Anakin said morosely. As he spoke into the communicator on his wrist telling the ships to drop their ramps he heard another pair of feet hit the roof.

"You let him go?" Maul asked, clearly enraged. "You had him and you let him go?"

"Be quiet Maul!" Quinlan shouted as he picked up two younglings and put one on each shoulder.

"I could feel it as I awoke. His fear. His terror! You had him and you let him go! For what? These Jedi brats?" Maul was walking towards Anakin from behind, and Anakin could tell he was gesticulating wildly.

"Are these younglings?" Barriss asked, clearly not fully in possession of her senses.

"You said we were going to kill him! You said I would get to kill him! And you let him go?" Maul roared.

With a speed and economy of movement that shocked everyone who could see it, Anakin spun around, engaged his lightsaber and slashed at Maul. The former Sith Lord barely had time to feel surprised at the attack before the lightsaber passed through his neck and the top of his right shoulder. Anakin was already clicking his saber off before Maul's head began to fall backwards off a body that was falling forwards. Quinlan flinched at the two clearly distinct sounds of Maul's head and torso hitting the roof a split second apart. Ventress looked horrified while Barriss was still looking around stupidly, not sure where she was or what was happening.

"He had outlived his usefulness," Anakin said darkly in response to Quinlan's horrified look. "Now, get them in the ships. Quinlan and Ventress in one, Barriss you stay with me. Keep them asleep until we reach the fleet. Do you understand your orders?"

Quinlan and Ventress gave small, terrified nods. Anakin didn't even bother to look at Barriss. He just started picking up the children around him and loading them onto the ship nearest to him. In a few minutes of complete silence, other than the sound of the frigate's engines, the four of them had cleared the roof. They did not speak a word to each other as they boarded their respective ships. They did not communicate as the two frigates, joined by their fighter escort, made their way into the upper atmosphere and jumped to the rendezvous coordinates just as an entire wing of Tie Fighters opened fire on them, hitting nothing.