Star Wars_ Labyrinth of Evil Part 26

Yoda stretched out farther, immersing himself fully in the Force - - only to feel his breath catch in his throat. Frigid, the current became.

Arctic. And for the first time he could feel Sidious. Feel him on Coruscant!

Captain Dyne stepped cautiously from the platform that had dropped the team into the unexplored depths of 500 Republica. Here, at an intersection of spooky corridors made of permacrete and surfaced with panels of plasteel, no water dripped, no insects constructed hives, no conduit worms nursed on electrical current. Strangely, however, the air was stirred by a faint and fresh breeze. Dyne took a breath to steady his nerves. He was trained for combat, but had spent so many of the past few years doing routine Intelligence work that his once sharp reflexes were shot. Commanding the hovering probe droids to go to stasis mode, he deactivated the handheld processor and hooked it on his belt. Drawing his Merr-Sonn blaster from its holster, he hefted it, then thumbed off the stun setting switch. Ahead of him, ghost-like in the dismal light, the commandos were moving toward the thick door at the end of the hall, keeping close to the walls, with weapons raised. Valiant had the point, with the squad's explosives expert close behind, a thermal detonator in hand.

Dyne stepped between the powered-down pair of probe droids, TC-16 following in his footsteps. They hadn't advanced three meters down the corridor when Dyne's ears p.r.i.c.ked up at the sound of gurgled voices. He could sense TC-16 come to a sudden halt behind him.

"Why, someone is speaking Geonosian," the protocol droid started to say.

Whirling, Dyne found himself staring down the wide muzzles of two organic-looking sonic weapons, grasped in the thick-fingered hands of two Geonosian soldier drones, barely visible in the shadows, their wings angled down toward the corridor's grimy floor. The next few moments unfurled in silent slow motion. Dyne understood that it wasn't his life flashing before his eyes, but his death. He saw the commandos drop in their tracks, as if blown over by a gale-force wind.

He watched Valiant and the explosives expert leave the floor and hurtle headlong into the door. He observed a storm of probe droid parts whirl past him. He felt himself go airborne and crash into the wall, and his insides turn spongy. It was possible, in that eternal moment of silence, that the troopers had reacted quickly enough to get off a few bolts, because when Dyne looked to his right, along the way he had come, there were no signs of the Geonosians or, for that matter, TC-16.

Then again, for all he knew he had lapsed into unconsciousness for an undetermined amount of time. He was vaguely aware of being slumped against the wall in a position that didn't come naturally to a human being. It was as if every bone in his body had been made pliant.

Soundlessly, the distant door opened inward, and light flooded into the corridor. The light was either red or tinted so by the blood that was filling his ruptured eyeb.a.l.l.s. Still set on slow motion, the immediate world came in and out of focus. What remained of his vision registered a room filled with blinking equipment, screens filled with scrolling data, a holoprojector table, above which drifted a Trade Federation battleship, halved and in flames.

Two machine intelligences emerged from the room, their slender, tubular bodies identifying them as a.s.sa.s.sin droids. Behind them walked a human of medium height and build, who stepped nonchalantly over Valiant's grotesquely twisted body. His liquefying brain notwithstanding, Dyne found a moment to be astonished, because he recognized the man instantly.

Incredible, he thought. As the Jedi suspected, the Sith had managed to infiltrate the highest levels of the Republic government.

The fact that the man had made no attempt to mask himself a.s.sured and comforted Dyne that he was about to die, and shortly after the realization, he did.

44.

"Were is the Chancellor?" Shaak Ti demanded of the three Red Guards stationed outside the entrance to Palpatine's suite in 500 Republica.

Alongside her hurried Sta.s.s Allie, one hand on the hilt of her lightsaber. In their adamant wake followed four members of the building's small army of security personnel, who had escorted the Jedi women from a midlevel skydock to the penthouse level. Despite having been notified of their arrival, the imposing Red Guards kept their force pikes raised in defensive postures.

"Where?" Sta.s.s Allie said, making it clear that she was going to get past them, one way or another. Shaak Ti had her hand raised to part the doors with a Force wave when the guards lowered their pikes and stepped aside.

One punched a code into a wall panel, and the pair of burnished doors opened.

"This way," the same guard said, gesturing the Jedi inside. A broad hallway lined with sculptures and holoart images led into the suite itself, which, like Palpatine's chambers in the Senate Office Building, was predominantly red. There was no telling how large the suite was, but the exterior wall of the vast main room followed the curve of the building's crown and looked down on patchy clouds, typical of those that gathered around the building in late afternoon. Distant autonavigation lanes - - transverse, and to and from orbit - - were motionless with stalled traffic. Between them and 500 Republica hovered two LAAT gunships and a small flock of patrol skimmers. A distinct disturbance at the crest of the Senate District's defensive umbrella meant that continued bombardment by Separatist forces had rendered the shield permeable.

Beyond the superhot edge of the shield, light flashed within banks of gray clouds.

Lightning or plasma, Shaak Ti told herself. Scarcely acknowledging her presence, Palpatine paced into the room like a caged animal, hands clasped behind his back, Senatorial robes trailing along the richly carpeted floor. Additional Red Guards and several of Palpatine's advisers stood watching him, some with comlinks plugged into their ears, others with devices Shaak Ti understood to be vital to the continued operation of the Republic military. Should anything befall the Chancellor, authority to initiate battle campaigns and issue war codes would pa.s.s temporarily to Speaker of the Senate, Mas Amedda, who, Shaak Ti had learned, was already safely ensconced in a hardened bunker deep beneath the Great Rotunda.

She couldn't help noticing that Pestage and Isard - - two of Palpatine's closest advisers - - looked nervous. "Why is he still here?" Sta.s.s Allie directed at Isard.

Isard made his lips a thin line. "Ask him yourself."

Shaak Ti practically had to plant herself in Palpatine's path to get his attention.

"Supreme Chancellor, we need to escort you to shelter."

They were not strangers. Palpatine had personally commended her for her actions at Geonosis, Kamino, Dagu, Brentaal IV, and Centares. He stopped briefly to regard her, then swung around and paced away from her.

"Master Ti, while I appreciate your concern, I've no need of rescue. As I've made abundantly plain to my advisers and protectors, I feel that my place is here, where I can best communicate with our commanders. If I were to go anywhere, it would be to the holding office."

"Chancellor, communications will be clearer from the bunker," Pestage said.

Isard added: "All those familiarization drills you so despised were conducted for just this scenario, sir."

Palpatine sent him a skewered grin. "Practice and reality are different matters. The Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Senate does not hide from enemies of the Republic. Can I be any clearer?"

The fact that Palpatine was fl.u.s.tered, confused, possibly frightened was obvious. But when Shaak Ti attempted to read him through the Force, she found it difficult to get a sense of what he was truly feeling.

"Chancellor, I'm sorry," Sta.s.s Allie chimed in, "but the Jedi are obliged to make this decision for you."

He swung to her. "I thought you answered to me!"

She remained unfazed. "We answer first to the Republic, and safeguarding you is tantamount to safeguarding the Republic."

Palpatine deployed his signature penetrating gaze. "And what will you do should I refuse? Use the Force to drag me from my quarters? Pit your lightsabers against the weapons of my guards, who are also sworn to safeguard me?"

Shaak Ti traded looks with one of the guards, wishing she could see through the face shield of his red cowl. The situation was becoming dangerous. A shiver born in the Force moved her to glance out the window.

"Supreme Chancellor," Pestage was saying. "You must listen to reason - - ".

"Reason?" Palpatine snapped. He aimed a finger toward the window. "Have you gazed into our once tranquil skies? Is there anything reasonable about what's occurring there?"

"All the more reason to move you to safety as quickly as possible," Isard said. "So that you conduct Coruscant's defense from a hardened site."

Palpatine stared at him. "In other words, you agree with the Jedi."

"We do, sir," Isard said.

"And you?" Palpatine asked the captain of his guards.

The guard nodded. "Then all of you are in error."

Palpatine stormed to the window. "Perhaps you need to take a closer look - - ".

Before a further word could fly from his mouth, Shaak Ti and Sta.s.s Allie were in motion; Shaak Ti tackling Palpatine to the floor, while Allie ignited her blade and brought it vertically in front of her. Without warning, the gunships closest to 500 Republica were lanced by plasma bolts. Their door gunners blown into midair, the two ships veered and began to fall through the clouds, trailing plumes of fire and thick black smoke.

"Unhand me!" Palpatine said. "How dare you?"

Shaak Ti kept him pinned to the floor and called her lightsaber into her hand. A shrill sound overrode the window's noise cancellation feature, and a Separatist a.s.sault craft rose into view from somewhere below the suite. Crowded at the side hatches and ready to deploy stood a band of battle droids and others. As the craft hovered closer to the window Shaak Ti gaped in disbelief.

Grievous!

"Down!" Sta.s.s Allie shouted a moment before the entire window wall blew inward, filling the air with permagla.s.s pebbles. Through the shattered window, droids leapt into the room, opening up with blaster rifles. Sta.s.s Allie stood immobile in the rush of wind, noise, and blaster bolts. Six Red Guards raced to her side, their activated force pikes humming in concert with Allie's lightsaber. Droids fell armless, legless, headless before they made it two meters into the room. Blaster bolts deflected by Allie's flashing blue blade blazed out of the window opening, ripping into the other droids waiting to hurdle the gap between craft and building. For a moment Shaak Ti was certain that Allie was going to throw herself aboard the hovering gunboat, but there were simply too many droids standing in the way.

Keeping Palpatine in a crouch, she grabbed a handful of his robes and began to guide him deeper into the room, her upraised lightsaber parrying bolts that ricocheted from the walls and ceiling. Beaten back, the battle droids broke off their attack. Outside the window, the gunboat was taking heavy fire from a surround of patrol skimmers. As Allie and the Red Guards were felling the final few droids, the Separatist craft dropped back into the clouds, with bolts from the skimmers chasing it. Releasing Palpatine to the custody of two guards, Shaak Ti raced to the window and gazed down into the clouds.

By then, there was little to see but angry exchanges of cyan and crimson light. She turned to face Isard. "Alert Homeworld Security that General Grievous has broken through the perimeter."

Elsewhere in the room, Pestage was helping Palpatine to his feet. "Ready now, sir?"

Palpatine returned a wide-eyed nod. "These familiarization drills you've been conducting,"

Sta.s.s Allie started to say. Isard gestured to one of the side rooms. "The suite is equipped with a secret turbolift that serves a secure, midlevel skydock. An armored gunship is standing by to transport the Chancellor to a bunker complex in the Sah'c District."

"Negative," Shaak Ti said, shaking her head. "Grievous knew enough to come here. We have to a.s.sume that the escape route has been compromised, as well."

"We can't just take him to a public shelter," Isard said.

"No," Shaak Ti agreed. "But there are other ways to reach the bunker complex."

"Why not use Republica's private turbolifts," one of the security guards suggested. "Ride them to the bas.e.m.e.nt levels and you'll have access to any number of landing platforms."

Sta.s.s Allie nodded, then glanced at Palpatine. "Supreme Chancellor, your guards are going to encircle you. You are not to attempt to leave that circle under any circ.u.mstances. Do you understand?"

Palpatine nodded. "I'll do whatever you say."

Allie waited until the Red Guards had gathered around him. "Now - - quickly!" When everyone had moved into the hallway, Shaak Ti used her comlink to find Mace Windu. "Mace, Grievous is onworld," she said the moment she heard his voice.

The response was noisy but intelligible. "I just heard."

"The Chancellor's escape route may be in jeopardy," she continued. "We're heading for Republica's sub-bas.e.m.e.nts. Can you meet us there?"

"Kit and I are nearby."

Pressed into the turbolift with Sta.s.s Allie, Palpatine's guards and advisers, and Republica's security personnel, Shaak Ti watched the display tick off the floors. No one spoke until the car had reached the first sublevel.

"Don't stop," Shaak Ti told the security man closest to the controls.

"The deeper we go, the better."

"All the way to the bottom?" the man asked. She nodded. "All the way to the bottom." Again. The turbolift deposited them not far from where she had been earlier, though on the opposite side of the tunnel leading to the east skydock. As they hurried for the tunnel, Shaak Ti took a moment to survey the huge s.p.a.ce for some sign of Captain Dyne's team.

Considering all that had happened since she left, it was likely that Dyne and Commander Valiant had curtailed the search for Sidious's hideaway. Or perhaps they were still at it, somewhere in the sub-bas.e.m.e.nt. Just short of entering the tunnel, she caught a glance of a bright silver protocol droid that might have been TC-16 hastening toward the exit to the west skydock. The tunnel was darker than it should have been at that time of day, and the lower reaches of the canyon were darker still.

"Wait here," Shaak Ti instructed the Red Guards and Palpatine when they had reached the mouth of the tunnel. Sta.s.s Allie strode to the center of the platform and gazed up at the buildings that loomed on all sides.

"Grievous's forces must have destroyed the orbital mirror that feeds this sector." Shaak Ti looked straight up at the sliver of sky. "The shield is down. They must have taken out the generator."

Allie blew out her breath. "I'll find an appropriate vehicle to confiscate."

Shaak Ti laid a hand on her upper arm. "Too risky. We should remain as close to ground as possible."

Allie indicated the stairway that led to the mag-lev platform. "The train won't take us to the bunker complex, but close enough."

Shaak Ti smiled at her and reactivated the comlink. "Mace," she said when he answered. "Another change in plans..."

45.

Dragging himself out from under plasteel girders and chunks of ferrocrete, Count Dooku came shakily to his feet and gazed in astonished disbelief at the shambles of the control room. Had the containment dome been so weak that it had succ.u.mbed to flurries of ricocheting blaster bolts, or had Skywalker's voiced rage actually called the ceiling down?

Had Dooku not leapt forcefully at the last moment, he might have been buried, as the two Jedi were, somewhere below, in the expanse of rubble that covered the archive room. He was certain that they had survived. But if nothing else they were trapped, which had been the intent from the start. But Skywalker...

a.s.suming that he had grown powerful enough to have collapsed the dome, the end result was simply further evidence that he would someday undo himself. Wasn't it? Because admitting to any alternative explanation meant accepting that Skywalker was potentially a greater threat to the Sith than anyone realized. Initially, it had cheered him to observe that Skywalker and Ken.o.bi had finally learned to fight together; to see how powerful they had become in partnership. Complementing each other's strengths, compensating for each other's weaknesses. Ken.o.bi making full use of his inherent discretion to balance young Skywalker's inattentive rowdiness. He could have watched them until the light faded on fair Tythe. And he wished that General Grievous could have been there to witness the display for himself.

Now he wasn't so sure. What if it should all come crashing down? he found himself thinking, as he dusted himself off and raced to exit the ruined facility. What if Grievous was outwitted and destroyed at Coruscant?

Sidious, apprehended and defeated? What if the Jedi should triumph, after all? What would become of his dream of a galaxy brought under eminent stewardship? On Vjun, Yoda had implied that the Jedi Temple would always be open to Dooku's return...

But, no. There was no turning back from the dark side, especially from the depths in which he had swum. Was there, then, a life of retirement somewhere in the galaxy for the former Count Dooku of Serenno? So much rested on what would take place over the next few standard days. So much rested on whether Lord Sidious's plan could succeed on all fronts - - even though forced to unfold hastily, because of a foolish oversight by Nute Gunray.

Outside, under Tythe's yellow-gray sky, his sloop was waiting, and standing alongside it the ship's pilot droid.

"A recorded message," the droid announced. "From General Grievous."

"Play it!" Dooku said as he hurried up the sloop's aft boarding ramp and into the instrument-filled main hold. A paused holoimage of the cyborg floated in blue light. Throwing off his dusty cape, Dooku paced while the FA-4 triggered the recording to replay.

"Lord Tyra.n.u.s," Grievous said, in motion suddenly and genuflecting.

"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine will soon be ours."

Dooku exhaled in satisfaction. "And just in time," he muttered. As if recalled to life, he positioned himself on the transmission grid and sent a simple return message: "General, I will join you shortly."

46.

Padme's eyes fluttered open. Into focus swam the faintly smiling face of Mon Mothma.

"No sleeping on the job, Senator," Mon Mothma said, as if from underwater. "We have to get you out of here."

Padme took stock of herself; realized that she was reclined in the rear seat of Sta.s.s Allie's skimmer. Her head was pillowed on Mon Mothma's left arm, and her ears felt as if they were plugged with cotton.