32 Crisis 1 (1/2)

Senate building, Coruscant

My hopes to find more alive Senate guards were dashed when I reached the main guard station for the Eastern part of the building. Its door was blow out and over its twister remain laid the body of a man clad in scorched blue armor. I did not need to be clairvoyant to figure out what had happened to most of the guards. The stench and smoke coming from the room were more than enough.

When I glanced inside I could see pieces of men and armor splattered all over the walls and ceiling. Most of it burned beyond recognition. It looked like a thermal detonator had blown up in the midst of about twenty to thirty people. It was not a pretty sight. The smell was even worse.

So much for that plan. It was time for improvisation. And calling in a couple of thousands clones to clean up the mess. If I was lucky and Palpatine was sealed in the Senate, that would give me few interesting options. But I had a decision to make first – getting out of the Senate and calling in the cavalry will give me free reign to deal with the situation. With the GAR headquarters and the nearby bases hit I was one of the highest ranking officers on Coruscant who could clean up take command of the situation. On the other hand once I left, getting back in could prove problematic. That is if I cared about the welfare of the hostages. However the only value most of them had was as obstacles to Palpy getting even more power.

Decisions, decisions...

=RK=

Skywalker found himself near the rooms where the mainframe of the senate was locate. The door leading to the computer complex slid open and a short, bluish alien sauntered out. The being gave one glance at the Jedi, screeched and darted back inside.

Anakin ran towards the door and hit the button to open it with his fists. It beeped angrily but the entrance remained barred. He shrugged and activated his lightsaber. Whatever that fella was doing there was not good. He was about to slice open the door when he heard someone approaching.

The Jedi turner around and groaned. Twelve commando droids had sneaked up to him and two of the mercenaries were approaching from the far ends of the corridor. One was a Weequay male armed with a pistol and the other a woman who looked human. She had a sniper rifle levered at him.

”Damn!” grumbled Anakin.

As if his words were a signal the droids opened fire. He had trouble holding his ground under the onslaught. Skywalker deflected most of the blaster bolts and barely moved from the way of the others. The fact that the commandos were made from better materials than your run of the mill clankers did not help him. In order to disable one of the robots he had to deflect two or three blaster shots in the same area of the damn machines.

Anakin knew that he could not stay at his present position for long. It would take only a single lucky hit or another group of droids showing and he'll be in real trouble.

The Jedi concentrated and blasted the commandos with a telekinetic wave which threw them off their feet. Only the Weequay and the sniper, who were staying back remained standing. Skywalker deflected few shots at the man who few backwards when they connected with his body. Before Anakin could dart in the opening he had created the door behind him slid open and he felt imminent danger. The Jedi tried to move away but was stopped by few well-placed sniper shots which he was forced to deflect.

Before he could react the small being had jumped on his back and struck him in the neck with something. Skywalker's world exploded with agony. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was a yellow glow.

=RK=

Palpatine glared at the image of the smug bounty hunter suspended over his desk. He was in a bind. He could feel a bunch of droids trying to cut their way in his outer offices. While the fact that most of the senators were hostages was something he could use, Sidious could not permit himself to be caught. That could easily force him in a situation where he must show his powers. Something he was not ready to reveal. The easiest way to avoid that would be for him to 'cave' under the demands of that arrogant bastard.

The downside of such an action was that he'll miss a golden opportunity to dispose of some of his most vocal opponent. Well, he could always spin it in a way as him doing his best to placate the terrorists because of the bio weapon and pretend that he was waiting for the GAR to deal with the issue.

Sidious frowned. He despised when one of his plans went awry. And in such a spectacular manner!

”Senator Taff will carry the necessary papers to the prison where Grievous is held. I am afraid that the Jedi will be most reluctant to release Dooku.”

”Leave them to me.” sneered Bane. ”Just sent your friend to take the general.”

=RK=

These days I was supposed to be a general not a common grunt so I decided to act like it. I cut my way through the door of one of the thousands offices spread around the building and made my way through the devoid of life rooms. The thick window which stood in my way of getting shattered when I sliced through it. I frowned at that. I always thought that what happened during the battle between Sidious and Windu in episode 3 was either done for a dramatic effect. You'd think that the windows in the senate building would be made from a sterner stuff... Another point for the lowest bidder I guess. Some things apparently were the same no matter in which universe you were.

I slid down the curved surface of the building and in the last moment jumped off it. After few seconds of free fall I landed on the hull of a freighter that was parked on one of the docking slips of the Senate. That gave me a nice view of a droid manhandling a big blue alien man into a speeder. The man was wearing an expensive looking robes. A senator I think. I frowned. There were a lot of things wrong with that picture.

I hurried down from my vantage point and jumped into a red, two seat air car. I sent a bolt of lightning at its on board computer and used my powers to force start its engine. Then I sped after the robot and the man it was holding hostage while checking my com every few seconds.

Few minutes later I flew out of the jamming field and grinned. It was show time.

”This is General Veil. Commodore Pellaeon report!” I spoke into my com.