Part 28 (1/2)

”You're getting awfully good at destroying things,” he said. ”On Vjun, you needed a grenade to do this much damage.”

Anakin shook the vision from his mind. ”I told you I was becoming more powerful.”

”Then do us both a favor by getting us out from under all this.”

They used the Force, their hands and backs to extricate themselves.

Getting to their feet, they stood staring at each other, dusted white head-to-toe from the debris.

”Go ahead,” Anakin said. ”If you don't say it, I will.”

”If you insist.” Obi-Wan snorted dust from his nose. ”Almost makes me nostalgic for Naos Three.”

”Once more, with feeling.”

”Some other time. Dooku, first.” Scampering over the remains of the dome, droid parts, buried pieces of furniture, overturned shelves of holodoc.u.ments, they raced for the landing platform, arriving in time to see Dooku's sloop, one among dozens of Separatist vessels, streaking for s.p.a.ce.

”Coward,” Obi-Wan said. ”He flees.”

Anakin watched the sloop for a moment longer, then looked at Obi-Wan.

”That's not the reason, Master. We've been tricked. Tythe was never the target. We were.”

49.

Bleeding speed and loft, the mag-lev settled hard onto the guide rail that projected from the skysc.r.a.per-lined rim of Sah'c Canyon.

Counterpoint to the sobs and moans of the pa.s.sengers, the two dozen cars - - two now with slashed-open roofs - - pinged and creaked. Balanced on the b.a.l.l.s of their feet, Mace and Kit hooked their lightsabers to their belts and drifted back down into the vestibule, as gently as the Force allowed. As if buffeted by thermals, the train swayed lazily from side to side.

But with traffic halted in both directions, the air at midlevel should have been unruffled. A quick glance out the right side of the vestibule supplied Mace with the explanation. The aged, cantilevered supports anch.o.r.ed to the sides of the buildings were beginning to bend under the weight of the train. In the distance, sirens wailed and dopplered as emergency craft hurried to render aid. Left of the stricken mag-lev, two enormous repulsorlift platforms were making a careful approach. Waiting for the train to quiet, Mace and Kit stood like statues in the vestibule.

When the rocking motion had subsided somewhat, they pressed the release stud for the pa.s.sageway door and eased themselves into the lead car.

The train continued to protest its peculiar circ.u.mstance with an a.s.sortment of stressful sounds, but the sagging supports held. Held for a few seconds more. Then, with explosive reports, the rail supports beneath the center of the train tore away from the canyon rim, taking a lengthy portion of the rail with them. The train V'ed into the sudden gap, and would have plunged completely but for the fact that enough forward and rear cars remained clasped to the rail to support the few that now formed an inverted triangle. Even so, Coruscanti in the rear were propelled forward by the collapse, while those in the lead cars were jerked violently backward.

Steps into Palpatine's car, Mace and Kit called on the Force to prevent everyone from flailing toward the vestibule door. Farther forward in the car, Shaak Ti and Sta.s.s Allie were keeping the Supreme Chancellor on his feet. Strident sounds issued from the guide rail. The mag-lev lurched, and another two cars slipped into the V-notch, their motion adding a sudden twist to the train that turned some of the cars onto their sides, and sent pa.s.sengers sliding and tumbling toward the tinted windows.

Coruscanti screamed in terror, bracing themselves as best they could, or clawing at one another for support.

Centered in the Force, Mace directed all his energy toward keeping the Red Guards and others rooted in place. He wondered if he, Kit, Shaak Ti, and Allie - - acting in concert - - could support the entire train, but dismissed the idea immediately. They would need Yoda. Perhaps five Yodas.

Unexpectedly, a feeling of relief flowed through him.

”The emergency repulsorlifts,” Kit said. Once more the train lurched, but this time the cars began to level out as antigrav repulsors levitated those that had dropped into the notch. By then, too, the pair of repulsorlift platforms had cozied up to the train's left side, and scores of emergency craft were rus.h.i.+ng in from all sides. Mace could feel an increasing sense of desperation sweep through the cars as pa.s.sengers grew frantic to exit. He knew that it was only going to get worse, since none of them would be allowed to leave until Palpatine had been moved to safety. He and Kit did their best to make that happen as quickly as possible.

Within moments, they had ushered everyone who had been in the lead car onto one of the platforms. Pressed in among his Red Guards, Palpatine couldn't even be seen. Disengaging from the mag-lev, the platform was moving away from the train before a single pa.s.senger - - even any of Palpatine's advisers - - could scramble out onto its twin. The air was filled with escort craft and guns.h.i.+ps, two of which put down on the platform as it was closing on the canyon's eastern rim. Leaping out of the craft, two platoons of commandos a.s.sumed firing positions along the platform's perimeter.

Behind them came four Jedi Knights, who rushed to join Shaak Ti and Sta.s.s Allie in guarding Palpatine. Mace recognized the more scorched of the pair of guns.h.i.+ps as one of two that had been in pursuit of Grievous's gunboat. Hurrying over to it, he signaled the pilot to raise the bubble canopy. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he said: ”What became of the gunboat?”

”My wingmate is in pursuit, General,” the pilot said. ”We're awaiting word.”

”Did Grievous fall from the mag-lev?”

”I was too far back to see much of anything, sir. But I didn't see him fall, and I didn't see anyone on the train.” Mace replayed the events in his mind. Saw himself Force-pus.h.i.+ng Grievous from the roof of the car; saw Grievous plunging over the edge, down out of sight, toward the rail or the canyon floor. The cyborg's gunboat disengaging from the train, descending into the canyon before it and the second guns.h.i.+p had commenced their corks.c.r.e.w.i.n.g race around the mag-lev...

Mace clenched his hands, and swung to Kit. ”The gunboat could have caught him - - somehow.” He gazed up at the pilot again. ”Any word yet?”

”Coming in now, sir... Sector H-Fifty-Two. My wingmate is in close pursuit. I'd better get a move on.”

”General Fisto and I are going with you.” Mace turned to Shaak Ti, Allie, and the four newly arrived Jedi Knights.

Shaak Ti nodded at him. ”We'll see the Chancellor the rest of the way to the bunker.” Shaak Ti was the last to board the guns.h.i.+p that would deliver Palpatine to shelter, somewhere deep in the narrow service chasms that fractured the exclusive Sah'c neighborhood. Encircled by the contingent of Red Guards, Palpatine stood silently in the rear of the troop bay. His hair and robes were mussed, and he looked pale and feeble among his striking protectors. Sta.s.s Allie and the four Jedi Knights Yoda had dispatched from the Temple stood just inside the door, shoulder-to-shoulder with commandos and government agents. Shaak Ti knew the human male Jedi and the female Twi'lek by sight, but she couldn't recall ever running into the other two - - a male Talz and a male Ithorian.

All four of them looked able enough, though she hoped there would be no call for them to demonstrate their skills. Moments earlier, the guns.h.i.+p carrying Mace and Kit had banked north, back toward the Senate District, in apparent pursuit of Grievous's gunboat. Palpatine's guns.h.i.+p had taken off to the south, and had immediately begun to descend. Dusk had already fallen on the rim of the canyon. Bruised by the day's events, Coruscant's skies were a swirl of blood red, orange, and deep lavender. Down below, the buildings and thoroughfares were illuminated. Halfway to the floor of the canyon, a guns.h.i.+p that had seen recent action fell in alongside the Supreme Chancellor's, and remained just off to starboard and slightly astern through the numerous twists and turns that led ultimately to the mountainous structure that served as the bunker complex.

A final turn to the north brought the two guns.h.i.+ps to the mouth of a narrow urban ravine, where they hovered for the moment it took to lower the particle s.h.i.+eld that safeguarded the shelters, tactical and communications centers, landing platforms, and the network of tunnels that linked them. The complex could be reached by alternative means - - under normal circ.u.mstances, Palpatine would have been conveyed by repulsorlift speeder through deep tunnels that arrived from 500 Republica, the Great Rotunda, and the Senate Office Building - - but the ravine was the best way of entering from anywhere west of the Senate or Financial Districts.

Shaak Ti didn't allow herself to relax until the guns.h.i.+ps had been cleared through the s.h.i.+mmering screen and had been issued approach vectors for landing. Her relieved exhale seemed to go on and on. The escort guns.h.i.+p shot ahead and was already on the pad when Shaak Ti and the rest arrived moments later. The craft bearing the Supreme Chancellor had scarcely touched down when the side doors flew out and back, and the Red Guards hurried Palpatine off to a waiting speeder. The commandos leapt out to reinforce the bunker's contingent of troopers. Shaak Ti instructed the four Jedi Knights to accompany the Red Guards, promising to join them after she and Sta.s.s Allie had apprised the Temple of their safe arrival.

The two Jedi women watched the speeder race off into the broad tunnel that accessed the bunker, then swung themselves down to the landing pad.

Allie grabbed her comlink and depressed the SEND b.u.t.ton. After several failed attempts to reach the Temple, she glanced at Shaak Ti. ”Too much interference. Let's move away from the s.h.i.+p.”

It was the interference that saved them from the explosion that mangled and consumed the guns.h.i.+p. As it was, the blast set their robes on fire and hurled them ten meters through the air. Retaining consciousness, Shaak Ti used the momentum to propel herself through a tucked roll that carried her almost to the edge of the landing platform. Sta.s.s Allie lay facedown nearby. The missile that had destroyed the guns.h.i.+p had been launched by the craft that had preceded them into the ravine. That same craft's several cannons were firing now, laying waste to other vessels and making short work of the troopers.

Shaak Ti saw several soldiers jump from the guns.h.i.+p's doors and move with astounding speed into the mouth of the access tunnel. She raised herself to one knee, then sprinted to Sta.s.s Allie's side to put out the flames that had engulfed her cloak. Allie stirred and raised herself on the palms of her hands.

”Stay down,” Shaak Ti warned. As the guns.h.i.+p was lifting off - - no doubt to gain a better vantage on the landing platform - - additional troopers appeared from somewhere below the landing pad. Rocket-propelled grenades swarmed after the rising craft, several of them infiltrating the vented nacelles of the repulsorlift engines. The ensuing detonation resounded in the ravine and cast fiery hunks of metal in all directions.

Shaak Ti curled her body and tucked her head to her chest. A wave of intense heat washed over her and Allie, and a hail of fragments clanged and clattered down around her. One of the last pieces to land - - not two meters from her face - - was the charred head of a battle droid.

50.

Mace and Kit stood in the open doorway of the Republic guns.h.i.+p as it threaded its way among the monads and skysc.r.a.pers of the Senate District.

Grievous's gunboat raced ahead, darting left and right as it fired continuously at its pursuer. Mace backed into the guns.h.i.+p as bolts sizzled past the doorway, nearly catching the underside of the starboard wing. The fact that it had taken so little effort to track and catch up with the Separatist craft gnawed at Mace.

Neither he nor Kit could shake the feeling that the gunboat had practically been waiting for them above the squat Senate Building, and had only then attempted to go evasive. And yet it had obviously eluded the original guns.h.i.+p that had chased it through the Sah'c skytunnel. Mace leaned into the hatch to the gunner's compartment and called up to him.

”Where's your wingmate?”