Part 9 (1/2)
”This hardly seems the time to bait him, Anakin. Have you had a look at those point-defense arrays?”
”When are you going to learn to trust me?”
”I do trust you! I just can't keep up with you!”
”Fine. Then I'll be right back.” Anakin pushed the starfighter to its limits, paying out plasma and missiles that exploded harmlessly against the great s.h.i.+p's deflector s.h.i.+eld. He peeled away from the fiery wash, only to fall back at the s.h.i.+p in predatory banks, breaking ultimately for its 200- meter-tall conning tower. The cruiser's in-close batteries came alive, chundering, gus.h.i.+ng enormous gouts of spun plasma at the pest that was attempting to besiege it. Snap-rolling, Anakin slid the starfighter hard to port, belly-up, and continued to fire. Again he tried to harry the invulnerable bridge with bursts of his lasers. And again the batteries of the colossal vessel tried but failed to get him in target lock.
Anakin pictured Grievous standing stalwart behind the transparisteel viewports. ”A taste of what's coming when we meet in the flesh,” he growled.
Grievous's reptilian eyes tracked the audacious maneuvers of the yellow-and-green starfighter that was attempting to strafe the bridge. Firing with precision, antic.i.p.ating the responses of the forward batteries, taking chances even a clone wouldn't take... the pilot could only be a Jedi. But a Jedi unafraid to call on his rage. Grievous could see that in the pilot's dauntless determination, his abandon. He could sense it, even through the Invisible Hand's s.h.i.+mmering s.h.i.+elds and the viewport's transparisteel. Oh, to have the lightsaber of that one dangling from his belt, he thought. Anakin Skywalker. Certainly it was him. And in the starfighter that was guarding Anakin's stern: Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi.
Thorns in the Separatists' side. Elsewhere in the battle arena Republic forces were demonstrating similar enthusiasm, atomizing droid fighters and punis.h.i.+ng the capital s.h.i.+ps with long-range cannon fire. Grievous was confident that, if pressed, he could turn the tide of battle, but that was not his present mandate. His Sith Masters had ordered him to safeguard the lives of the Council members - - though, in fact, the Confederacy needed none other than Lords Sidious and Tyra.n.u.s. He turned to watch the simulation playing above the tactical console, then swung back to the viewports, recalling the ARC-170 pilots who had hounded Gunray's shuttle only days earlier. He waved for one of the droids.
”Alert our vessel commanders to stand by to receive revised battle orders.”
”Yes, General,” the droid acknowledged in monotone.
”Raise the s.h.i.+p. Prepare to fire all guns on my command.”
There is no death; there is only the Force. Obi-Wan wondered if he had ever witnessed a more lucid demonstration of the Jedi axiom than Anakin's Force-centered, death-defying hara.s.sment of Grievous's s.h.i.+p. His speck of a starfighter all but nose-to-nose with the mammoth cruiser, leaving Obi-Wan to deal with the vengeful droid fighters Anakin was either ignorant of or deliberately disregarding.
”He really is going to be the death of me,” Obi-Wan mumbled. But he was indifferent to his own fate, wondering instead: What if Anakin should be killed? Could he even be killed? As the Chosen One, was he destined to fulfill both the t.i.tle and the prophecy? Was he immune to real harm, or - - as someone born to restore balance to the Force - - did he require defenders to guide him to that destiny? Was it Obi-Wan's duty - - more, the duty of all the Jedi - - to see to it that he survived at all costs?
Was that what Qui-Gon had intuited so many years earlier on Tatooine, and had motivated him to attack with such resolve the Sith who had revealed himself in that parched landscape?
Though the cruiser's s.h.i.+eld was removing the sting of Anakin's laser bolts, he could not be deterred from persevering. Even Obi-Wan's repeated attempts to hail him through the battle net had had no effect. But now the huge s.h.i.+p was beginning to climb and reorient itself. Obi-Wan thought for a moment that Grievous was actually going to bring all forward guns to bear on Anakin. Instead, the cruiser continued to rise until it was well above the plane of the ecliptic, with its bow angled slightly Coreward. Then it fired. Not at the Republic battle group, nor at Belderone itself, but at the convoy of evacuees and its escort starfighters.
Obi-Wan felt a great disturbance in the Force, as s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p disintegrated or erupted in flames. Thousands of voices cried out, and the battle and command nets grew shrill with shouts of dismay and outrage. The follow-up volley Obi-Wan waited for never arrived. Tri-fighters and Vulture droids were suddenly slinking back to the s.h.i.+ps from which they had been disgorged. At the same time, the entire Separatist fleet was turning tail. Of course Grievous realized that his barbaric act had caught the Republic forces by surprise, but he had nothing more in mind than escape into hypers.p.a.ce.
The general had obviously made up his mind that Belderone simply wasn't worth the risk - - not with so many defenseless Outer Rim worlds still up for grabs.
”Anakin, the evacuees need our help!” Obi-Wan said.
”I'm coming, Master.” Obi-Wan watched Anakin's starfighter break off its futile pursuit of the cruiser. Farther out, Separatist s.h.i.+ps were disappearing from sight as they made the jump to lightspeed.
”Vessels of the main fleet are safely away,” a droid reported to Grievous as soon as the cruiser entered hypers.p.a.ce. ”Expected arrival at the alternate rally point: ten standard hours.”
”Losses at Belderone?” Grievous said.
”Acceptable.”
Beyond the forward viewports, the smoky vortices of outraced light.
Grievous ran the fingers of his clawlike hand down the bulkhead.
”Instruct my elite to meet me in the shuttle launching bay on emergence from hypers.p.a.ce,” he said to no droid in particular. ”When all s.h.i.+ps have arrived at the rally point, advise Viceroy Gunray that I will be paying him a visit.”
20.
”Trained well by Dooku, General Grievous was,” Yoda said.
He and Mace Windu were in Yoda's chambers in the Jedi Temple, each atop a meditation dais. ”Entrapped, they strike at the weakest. Force us, they do, to choose between saving lives and continuing the fight.” Yoda recalled his duel with Dooku in the solar sailer's docking bay on Geonosis. Dooku bested, left with no alternative but to distract and flee...
”Representatives from Belderone have expressed their grat.i.tude to the Senate,” Mace said. ”Despite the losses.”
Yoda shook his head sadly. ”More than ten thousand killed. Twenty-seven Jedi.”
The muscles in Mace's jaw bunched. ”Billions have died in this war.
Belderone was saved, and, more importantly, we were able to keep Grievous on the run.”
”Know where he jumped to, we do.”
”We'll chase him to the ends of known s.p.a.ce, if we have to.”
Yoda fell silent for a moment, then said: ”Speak with the Supreme Chancellor, we must.”
”Without apology,” Mace said bluntly. ”Our deference to him has to end.”
”With the war's end, it will.” Yoda turned slightly to regard Mace. ”A terrible warning, Belderone is. Increasing, the power of the dark side is. Rooted out, Sidious must be.”
Mace nodded gravely. ”Rooted out and eliminated.”
21.
”General Grievous has left the docking bay,” a Trade Federation lieutenant relayed to Gunray in his lavish quarters in the core s.h.i.+p's port-side command tower.
”Which docking bay?” Gunray said toward the comlink's audio pickup.
”Below, or in the tower?”
”The general's shuttle availed itself of the tower docking ring, Viceroy.
Gunray swung around to face Rune Haako. ”That means he will be here any moment!”
He turned to a large circular screen that displayed a real-time view of the antechamber outside his suite. The Neimoidian guards stationed there had also been alerted to Grievous's arrival. Armed with blaster rifles taller than they were, the four wore bulky torso and lower-leg armor, and pot-shaped helmets that left their red eyes and green faces exposed.
”It has to be the mechno-chair,” Gunray said, striding back and forth in front of the screen.
”What did you tell him?” Haako asked.