Author's Note: Here begins the Revenge of the Sith…
I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars or its characters, but I only own Nadia Aomori and my other OCs.
Enjoy!
Threads of Destiny
Chapter 68: Rescuing Chancellor Palpatine
War!
The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku.
There are heroes on both sides.
Evil is everywhere.
In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.
As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, three Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor...
At the top of Coruscant, three Jedi starfighters entered and headed toward an enemy battle cruiser.
As the Separatist Droid Army attempted to escape the Galactic capital, a massive space battle erupted which made Obi-Wan, Anakin and Nadia lead a mission to rescue the Chancellor from the clutches of their enemies.
Artoo was on Anakin's starfighter while R4-P17 was on Obi-Wan's starfighter and RG-G1 was on Nadia's starfighter.
"Lock on to him, Artoo."Anakin ordered."Master, Nadia, the Invisble Hand's directly ahead and its the one crawling with vulture droids."
"I see it."Obi-Wan replied.
"Me too."Nadia remarked."This is going to be easy."
Ahead of them there was a trade federation cruiser with droid vulture fighters around the hull.
The vulture fighters went into their flight configuration and lift off the cruiser to attack the jedi starfighters.
"Oddball, do you copy?"Obi-Wan asked.
"Copy, Red Leader."Oddball answered.
"Mark my position."Obi-Wan ordered."Form your squad up behind me."
"We're on your tail, General Kenobi."Oddball replied."Set S-foils in attack position."
"This is where the fun begins."Anakin remarked with a smirk.
"Let them pass between us."Obi-Wan stated.
"Here they come."Nadia warned.
Then a swarm pass at high speed in front of the three Jedi starfighters and their fleet.
The Jedi starfighters split up and make a quick loop around the droid tri-fighters, ending up behind them.
The three Jedi began fighting through the Separatist armada.
"They're all over me!"Oddball stated.
"I'm gonna go help them out."Anakin insisted.
"No."Obi-Wan replied."They are doing their job so we can do ours."
Nadia frowned and shook her head in disappointment.
Then a clone's fighter was hit before bursting into flames and spins off into space.
A vulture droid fighter raised its head to locate its target and fires missiles at them.
"Missiles."Anakin said. "Pull up."
"They overshot us!"Obi-Wan stated.
"Gentlemen, they're coming around."Nadia admitted.
The three starfighters go their separate ways and the missiles follow them.
The second missile streaks next to Obi-Wan's Fighter and exploded.
Obi-Wan's ship rocks and R-4 screams as the starfighter rips through the explosion.
"All right, R4."Obi-Wan stated with a nervous look."No! No! Nothing too fancy!"
"Surge all power units, Artoo."Anakin ordered."Stand by reverse thrusters."
Nadia noticed two of the missiles were following her trail, so she carefully made her starfighter turn around in a big circle which made the missiles end up hitting each other.
RG-G1 letted out a few beeps.
"Relax, G-G. At least I didn't end up making our starfighter go up in flames"Nadia reminded."Besides I did told May, I'd be careful with you."
The dark grey astromech droid let out a frowning beep.
Anakin spun his starfighter causing the missiles that were following him to spin and collide.
"We got them, Artoo!"Anakin remarked with a proud look.
Two missiles continued to track Obi-Wan's starfighter.
"Flying is for droids and my two apprentices."Obi-Wan mumbled.
The Jedi Master's starfighter started to plummet toward the surface of the Trade Federation Cruiser.
The trailing missiles fly into what looks like debris, and detonate.
Five silver balls fly out of the debris and attach themselves to the ship.
The balls popped open, revealing small buzz droids that began to crawl across the surface like spiders.
"I'm hit!"Obi-Wan shouted."Anakin? Nadia?"
"We see them."Anakin replied."Buzz droids."
"Filthy bugs."Nadia muttered in disgust.
"R4, be careful."Obi-Wan warned."You have a-"
R4-P17 got destroyed by a buzz droid.
"Oh dear."Obi-Wan replied."They're shutting down all the controls."
"Move to the right so me and Nadia can get a clear shot at them."Anakin instructed.
"The mission, reach the Invisible Hand!"Obi-Wan reminded."Get Chancellor Palpatine! I'm running out of tricks here!"
Both Anakin and Nadia used their starfighters to fire and vaporise the buzz droids on Obi-Wan's Jedi starfighter.
However, Nadia accidentally fired on the left wing of Obi-Wan's ship when destroying one of the buzz droids.
"Oops!"Nadia mumbled with a nervous smile."Sorry, Master!"
"In the name of-"Obi-Wan scowled."Hold your fire! You're not helping!"
"I agree."Anakin stated."Bad idea."
"Hey, I was only trying to help out!"Nadia retorted with a glare.
Obi-Wan noticed a few buzz droids blocking the view of his interceptor.
"I can't see a thing!"Obi-Wan protested."My cockpit's fogging! They're all over me!"
"Move to the right."Anakin instructed.
"Hold on!"Obi-Wan ordered."You'll get us killed! Get out of here! There's nothing more neither of you can do!"
"We're not leaving without you, Master."Nadia admitted.
Both Anakin and Nadia's starfighters moved next to Obi-Wan's and tried to physically knock the five buzz droids off.
The two Jedi Knights managed to get the buzz droids off, but badly dented Obi-Wan's ship in the process.
One of the buzz droids crawled out onto Anakin's ship and starts attacking Artoo.
Artoo fought the buzz droid that attempted to destroy him.
"Get him, Artoo."Anakin said."Watch out."
"Artoo, hit the buzz droid's centre eye."Obi-Wan instructed.
Artoo extends an arm and aims a stream of electricity at the buzz droid.
The buzz droid was hit squarely in the eye and falls off the ship.
"Yeah, you got him!"Anakin said with a smile.
"Great, Artoo."Obi-Wan complemented.
Nadia's smile vanished when she saw the Invisible Hand close by.
"Umm, guys?"Nadia spoke up, earning Anakin and Obi-Wan's attention."The Invisible Hand's dead ahead."
RG-G1 let out a shriek when he noticed the shield on the command ship was on.
"Have you noticed the shields are still up?"Obi-Wan questioned.
"Sorry, Master."Anakin apologised.
Anakin's starfighter streaked ahead of Obi-Wan and Nadia's starfighters to blast the shield generator, destroying it.
But then the doors of the shield generator began to close the entrance.
"I have a bad feeling about this."Obi-Wan admitted.
"Get ready to jump, Master!"Nadia called out.
The shield door dropped away and Obi-Wan's starfighter crashed on the deck of the hangar bay while Anakin and Nadia's starfighters landed safely just as the blast doors slam shut.
Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber and cuts his way out of the cockpit.
The Jedi Master jumped off his starfighter and began to take down the battle droids.
Artoo and RG-G1 got off their starfighters before beeping at each other.
Anakin and Nadia activated their lightsabers to help Obi-Wan slash the battle droids and destroy them.
"Artoo, locate the Chancellor."Obi-Wan ordered."Tap into the ship's computers."
The three Jedi cut down the last of the droids and followed Artoo over to a computer wall socket while RG-G1 stood next him.
A hologram of the Invisible Hand appeared on view.
"Chancellor Palpatine's signal is coming from right there."Obi-Wan exclaimed."The observation platform at the top of that spire."
"I sense Count Dooku."Anakin admitted.
"I sense a trap."Nadia stated.
"Next move?"Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan smiled. "Spring the trap."
Anakin, Obi-Wan and Nadia began to walk away causing the two droids to beep at them, earning their attention.
"Artoo, go back and stay with G-G."Anakin ordered.
"And both of you keep out of trouble."Nadia reminded.
Obi-Wan tossed a comlink to Artoo.
"Here."Obi-Wan responded."Take this and wait for orders."
In the Invisible Hand, General Grievous entered the main bridge of the command ship followed by his two bodyguards.
The Kaleesh cyborg walked to the front of the bridge and stood in front of Captain Lushros Dofine; a Neimoidian male, who served as the captain of the Providence-class Dreadnought Invisible Hand.
"What's the situation, Captain?"General Grievous questioned.
"Three Jedi have landed in the main hangar bay."Captain Dofine replied."We're tracking them."
"Just as Count Dooku predicted."General Grievous declared evilly.
Anakin, Nadia and Obi-Wan were walking down a hallway within the Invisible Hand.
"Droidekas!"Anakin warned.
Anakin, Nadia and Obi-Wan activated their lightsabers to deflect the lasers of the Droidekas as they went inside an elevator and the doors closed.
The three Jedi noticed battle droids pointing their blasters behind them.
"Drop your weapons!"A battle droid ordered."I said drop them!"
"No can do!"Nadia sneered brightly.
The trio activated their lightsabers again to destroy the battle droids.
Artoo and RG-G1 noticed two battle droids entering the hangar causing them to move and hide behind one of the Jedi Starfighter.
"Those are Jedi fghters all right."A battle droid complemented.
Inside the elevator, Anakin, Nadia and Obi-Wan became alarmed when the platform they wete on suddenly stopped.
"Did you press the stop button?"Obi-Wan asked.
"No."Anakin replied and looked at Nadia."Did you?"
"Hey, I didn't press anything at all."Nadia retorted with a firm look.
"There's more than one way out of here."Anakin admitted.
The Chosen One activated his lightsaber and cuts a hole in the elevator ceiling.
"We don't want to get out, we want to get moving."Obi-Wan stated and took out his comlink."Artoo, activate elevator 31174. Come in, Artoo."
There was no response.
"Artoo, do you copy?"Obi-Wan asked."Activate the elevator 31174."
Anakin climbed through the hole in the ceiling of the elevator and Nadia followed after him.
Obi-Wan sighed at the actions of his two former apprentices.
"Always on the move."Obi-Wan murmured.
The Jedi Master then focused back on the comlink.
"Artoo, switch on the comlink."Obi-Wan ordered."Artoo, can you hear me?"
Suddenly, the elevator plummeted down the shaft.
Anakin quickly jumped and grabbed onto the hallway entry door while Nadia stood at the top of the elevator as it receded down the shaft.
"Whoa!"Nadia muttered, carefully maintaining her balance and looked beneath the elevator."Master, what is taking Artoo so long?!"
"Artoo! Stop! Stop, Artoo! We need to be going up!"Obi-Wan demanded in his comlink. "Artoo, we need to be going up, not down!"
Then the elevator stops with a jolt causing Nadia to almost lose her balance since she was at the top of the elevator.
"That's better."Obi-Wan stated.
Anakin looked down and sees the elevator heading toward him at a high rate of speed.
He looked at the battle droids leaning over him with their guns pointed at him.
The Jedi Knight calculated for a moment, then gives himself a push and flipped himself up into the elevator shaft.
Before Anakin can arc into a descent down the shaft, the elevator raced up through the shaft, cutting the droids in two.
Anakin landed on the elevator next to Nadia and they quickly dropped back through the hole in the ceiling.
Obi-Wan gets startled and ignited his lightsaber, but then saw it was Anakin and Nadia.
"Oh, it's you two."Obi-Wan responded.
"Yeah. Who else do you think it was?"Nadia questioned with a smirk."Darth Malak and Visas Marr?"
Obi-Wan shook his head at Nadia's respond.
"What was that all about?"Anakin asked.
"Artoo has been-"Obi-Wan started.
"No loose wire jokes."Anakin replied.
"Did I say anything?"Obi-Wan asked.
"He's trying."Anakin stated.
"I didn't say anything."Obi-Wan admitted.
"Well, it looked like you were going to complain, Master."Nadia joked with her arms folded.
In the hangar, Artoo ignited his arm rockets and shoots out of their grip, spraying them both with oil and setting them on fire.
The battle droids slipped and slid until they fall, smouldering.
RG-G1 came out of his hiding place and beeped happily at Artoo.
When elevator door opened, Anakin, Nadia and Obi-Wan carefully made their way into the main room of the General's Quarters where sat Chancellor Palpatine sat at the far end.
The three Jedi went up to Chancellor Palpatine.
"Chancellor."Obi-Wan said with a bow.
"Are you all right?"Anakin asked.
"Count Dooku."Chancellor Palpatine replied with a hint of fear.
The three Jedi turned around and saw Count Dooku coming in with two MagnaGuards, who activated their electro-staffs.
"Speak of the devil."Nadia muttered with a frown.
"This time we will do it together."Obi-Wan ordered.
"I was about to say that."Anakin admitted.
"Really?"Nadia teased smugly.
Anakin went next to Nadia on the left side while Obi-Wan was on the right side of the raven haired girl.
Count Dooku jumped down to the main level.
"Get help."Chancellor Palpatine insisted."You're no match for him. He's a Sith Lord."
Obi-Wan looked at the Chancellor.
"Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our speciality."Obi-Wan remarked with a smile.
Anakin, Nadia and Obi-Wan threw off their cloaks.
"Your swords, please."Count Dooku stated as he stepped forward."We don't want to make a mess of things in front of Chancellor Palpatine."
"You won't get away this time, Dooku."Obi-Wan admitted.
Anakin and Obi-Wan activated their blue lightsabers while Count Dooku activated his red lightsaber.
Anakin and Obi-Wan began to duel with Darth Sidious' current apprentice again while Nadia activated her lightsabers to fight the two MagnaGuards that were targeting her.
"I've been looking forward to this."Count Dooku stated.
"My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count."Anakin admitted.
"Good."Count Dooku praised with a smirk."Twice the pride, double the fall."
The two Jedi continued duelling the Count of Serenno which lead them going up the stairs.
Nadia continued duelling the MagnaGuards and blocked their electro staffs with her two lightsabers.
Count Dooku holds Obi-Wan in the air using the Force as he turned and kicked Anakin on the floor.
Master Yoda's former apprentice sends Obi-Wan flying and the Jedi Master tumbled to the lower level unconscious.
The Count of Serenno used the Force which caused a section of the balcony to drop onto Obi-Wan.
Seeing this, Nadia angrily slashed a magna droid's head off and cuts its body in half before focusing on the other magna droid that was trying to hit her with its electrostaff.
Anakin stood up and kicked Count Dooku away, sending him over the balcony.
The Jedi knight jumped down and follows the Count down to the main floor.
Anakin and Count Dooku blocked their lightsabers with each other.
"I sense great fear in you, Skywalker."Count Dooku declared."You have hate. You have anger. But you don't use them."
Nadia used her lightsabers to make the electro-staffs go off the MagnaGuards' hands and destroyed the droids with a cold look on her face.
Anakin attacked Count Dooku with ferociousness and in one last energised charge, he cuts off his foe's hand.
The Count of Serenno fell on his knees as Anakin puts the two lightsabers to his neck.
"Good, Anakin, good."Chancellor Palpatine praised in amusement."Kill him. Kill him now."
"I shouldn't."Anakin admitted.
"Do it."Chancellor Palpatine ordered.
Anakin cutted off Count Dooku's head causing Nadia to be a bit disturbed, but didn't say anything as she stepped forward.
"You did well, Anakin."Chancellor Palpatine stated."He was too dangerous to be kept alive."
Anakin deactivated his lightsaber and then Count Dooku's before shoving it away.
Nadia went up to Chancellor Palpatine to make the restraints that held his wrists go loose.
"Yes. But he was an unarmed prisoner, Chancellor Palpatine."Nadia admitted."And he would've told us the key to put an end to this war."
"Nadia's right."Anakin agreed."I shouldn't have done that. It's not the Jedi way."
"It is only natural, he cut off your arm and you wanted revenge."Chancellor Palpatine said as he stood up."It wasn't the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother and the Sand People?"
Anakin fell silent causing Nadia to look at him with a hint of sadness.
"Now we must leave before more security droids arrive."Chancellor Palpatine suggested.
Chancellor Palpatine headed for the elevators while Anakin and Nadia went up to Obi-Wan.
The two Jedi knelt down to check their unconscious friend.
"Anakin. Nadia. There's no time."Chancellor Palpatine declared with a firm look."We must get off this ship before it's too late."
"He seems to be all right."Nadia remarked.
"Leave him or we'll never make it."Chancellor Palpatine warned.
"His fate will be the same as ours."Anakin reminded.
Anakin picked up Obi-Wan, slings him over his shoulder and heads for the elevators with Nadia.
"Elevator's not working."Nadia commented with a frown.
"Artoo, activate elevator 3224."Anakin ordered in his comlink.
Suddenly, the command ship shifted to its side as the elevator doors open.
Anakin, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine climbed into the elevator shaft before running in it.
Anakin still carried Obi-Wan on his back and Palpatine run down the elevator shaft as it started to move upright.
Nadia cuts a control box on one of the doors with her cyan lightsaber.
But before the doors can open, the ship moved to an angle.
This made the two Jedi Knights and the Chancellor to notice that they were sliding down the shaft.
Anakin grabbed some wires in the control box with one hand while Chancellor Palpatine grabbed onto the Jedi Knight's leg.
Nadia held onto a edge that was next to Anakin.
As the ship rights itself, the two Jedi Knights were left hanging in the bottomless elevator shaft.
Obi-Wan regained consciousness and tried to look around.
"Easy, Master."Nadia instructed as she carefully held onto the edge."We're in a bit of a situation here."
"Did I miss something?"Obi-Wan asked.
"Hold on."Anakin ordered.
"What is that?"Obi-Wan demanded.
The small group then heard the elevator brakes being released and look up to see the elevator heading toward them.
"Damn it!"Nadia cursed angrily.
"Artoo, shut down the elevator!"Anakin ordered in his comlink.
"Too late, jump!"Obi-Wan insisted.
The small group fall down before the tilt of the ship catches up with them and they hit the side of the shaft and slide at great speed just ahead of the elevator.
The three Jedi take out and threw up their grappling hooks which caught and made them hook up.
The group swing through the open door into a hallway as the elevator roared by.
"Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable."Obi-Wan admitted.
"I hope so."Nadia stated.
"Artoo, get down here with G-G."Anakin ordered in his comlink."Artoo, do you copy?"
In the command bridge of the Invisible Hand, General Grievous got a report of the Jedi's whereabouts with the Chancellor.
"General Grievous, we found the Jedi."A battle droid reported."They're in hallway 328 with Chancellor Palpatine."
"Activate ray shields."General Grievous ordered.
Anakin, Obi-Wan, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine run down the hallway until ray shields were activated around and trapping them.
"Ray shields."Anakin muttered.
"Wait a minute, how did this happen?"Obi-Wan 're smarter than this."
"Apparently not, Master."Nadia retorted."This is the oldest trap in the book. But distractions happen."
"Oh, so all of a sudden it's my fault?"Obi-Wan asked with a firm look.
"I say patience."Anakin admitted.
"Patience?"Obi-Wan asked.
Nadia smirked. "You of all people?"
"Yes."Anakin replied."Artoo and G-G will be along in a few moments...and then they'll release the ray shields."
Then Artoo and RG-G1 come skidding across the hallway while they both screamed and bashed into the opposite wall.
The two droids composed themselves for a moment.
"Wow."Nadia said with a fake amused tone.
"See?"Anakin asked."No problem."
Suddenly, droidekas rolled in front of them while battle droids appeared from behind the group.
Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin.
"Do you have a plan B?"Obi-Wan asked.
Obi-Wan, Anakin, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine had their hands cuffed while the two astromech droids stood next to them and they were brought in front of General Grievous.
"Ah, yes."General Grievous said."The Negotiator, General Kenobi and his former Padawan brat, Nadia Aomori. We've been waiting for you both. That wasn't much of a rescue."
Nadia looked at the Kaleesh cyborg with a deadly look.
A battle droid showed the lightsabers to the Separatist General, who snatched them off it's hands.
"You're welcome."the battle droid said in annoyance.
General Grievous walked up to Anakin.
"And Anakin Skywalker."General Grievous stated."I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little...older."
"General Grievous."Anakin said with a smug smile."You're shorter than I expected."
"Jedi scum!"General Grievous growled.
"Anakin, try not to upset him."Obi-Wan admitted.
"Yeah, we have a job to do."Nadia agreed with a smirk.
"Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection."General Grievous retorted.
"Not this time."Obi-Wan stated."And this time, you won't escape."
"Artoo."Anakin said."G-G."
The two little droids immediately began to shriek and shot out smoke, tazer blasts and anything else that would scramble the droids that were holding them captive.
General Grievous was hit by one of the electrical bursts and he stumbled backwards.
Obi-Wan reached out and used the Force to yank his lightsaber out of the General's hand, ignites it to cuts his bonds before cutting Anakin and Nadia free.
Anakin and Nadia used the force to retrieve their lightsabers before activating them.
"Crush them!"General Grievous growled."Make them suffer!"
Nadia saw some droids trying to take the Chancellor away, but she quickly put a stop to that while Anakin and Obi-Wan fought the MagnaGuards that were with General Grievous.
General Grievous walked around the bridge directing the battle droids.
"Stay at your stations!"General Grievous ordered."Keep the ship in orbit!"
"Yes, sir."A battle droid answered.
Obi-Wan, Anakin and Nadia destroyed the super droids
General Grievous picked up one of the MagnaGuards' staffs and faced Obi-Wan.
Anakin leapt over a console and landed behind General Grievous.
"You lose, General Kenobi!"General Grievous snarled.
The Kaleesh cyborg throws his electrified staff at the window.
The window breaks causing chaos as everything that was not nailed down was sucked into space.
General Grievous was the first one sucked out into space and fired a cable from his arm that attached to the ship.
He swings in and landed firmly on the side of the ship.
Obi-Wan, Anakin, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine hold on for dear life.
Then a blast shield closed around where the window used to be.
The three Jedi took out the last battle droids before noticing an alarm that said all the escape pods were gone.
"All the escape pods have been launched."Nadia admitted with a worried look.
"Grievous."Obi-Wan retorted and glanced at Anakin."Can you fly a cruiser like this?"
"You mean, can I land what's left of it?"Anakin assumed, smirking at his companions."Well? Under the circumstances, I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant. Strap yourselves in."
Anakin sat in the pilot seat while Obi-Wan, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine strapped themselves into the other chairs.
"Open all hatches."Anakin ordered."Extend all flaps and drag fins."
Suddenly, the ship was rocked by a series internal explosions and a giant shudder.
"We lost something?"Anakin asked.
"Not a problem."Nadia stated casually while looking at the screens that were alarming in a red colour."We're flying half of the ship now."
The Invisible Hand began to shake violently and heat up rapidly as they entered the planet's atmosphere.
Flames danced across the front of the vessel.
The group began to sweat from the heat as much as the pressure that they were all feeling.
Artoo and RG-G1 both beeped nervously.
"Now we're really picking up speed."Anakin stated.
"Eight plus 60."Obi-Wan complemented."We're in the atmosphere."
"Grab that."Anakin instructed. "Keep us level."
"Easy, Artoo and G-G. We'll be okay."Nadia reminded with a calm expression and contacted the pilots outside."Fire ships on the left and the right."
"We'll take you in, ma'am."A pilot replied."Copy that."
"Landing strip, straight ahead."Obi-Wan informed.
"We're coming in too hot."Nadia warned worriedly.
Anakin managed to level the wreckage of the Invisible Hand to be parallel to the ground, causing them to land a high speed, but still land.
As they skidded across the giant landing platform, they smashed into a control tower, completely levelling it.
However, no one was harmed since most of the employees had been evacuated already.
The command ship left a contrail as it streaked across the Coruscant skyline.
When the scrap pile finally stopped, Anakin, Nadia and Chancellor Palpatine all released a breath that they had been holding unconsciously.
"Another happy landing."Obi-Wan admitted with a smile.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter
See you all in the next part and have a wonderful say!