Chapter 32: Crisis (1)
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.
=RK=
Republic Cruiser Requiem, High orbit over Coruscant
The bridge crew released a collective sigh of relief when they heard the general's voice. None more than Gilad who was getting sick from dealing with Rear Admiral Borav Quid – the man who had taken command of the Navy units over the capital after the start of the emergency. How the fool had reached such a rank, the commodore would never know. The man had refused to allow any troops from the fleet to be sent to the planet, which meant that with the virtual neutralization of the bases near the senate (both installations were hugged under their theater shields in an attempt to stem the spread of the bio weapon) the nearest ground ponders that could arrive at the scene of the attacks in force were hours away.
But the Rear Admiral was afraid to do anything without orders from the HQ. The same High Command that was sealed after a bio attack and under heavy jamming preventing communications. So when the General had contacted them, Pellaeon was glad. Technically Veil outranked that toad Quid. The question was if the admiral would and most importantly his subordinates would agree.
The Commodore hurried to give sit rep to his commander, for all it was worth considering how little hard information they got.
"Kriffing bastards!" cursed Veil. "Those attacks were only distractions. There was an attack on the senate. Most of the building is under enemy control. I can confirm that there are dozens and perhaps hundreds commando droids crawling all over the building. Assume that the Chancellor and all senators in there are either dead or under duress. Who is in charge of this clusterfuck?"
"Rear Admiral Quid." deadpanned Pellaeon. "And as far as we can determine there is no one in command down there. The comms are either jammed or down due to quarantine procedures."
"By the Force! That at least explains the lack of reaction from GAR units. Listen, Commodore. I am taking command of the situation on the ground. I want you to launch all ground forces you have on board. I want two LAAT's to vector on my signal and sent the others to establish a perimeter around the senate building. And contact Quid. I want ground forces deployed to contain the situation within the hour. If the idiot gives you any problems patch him to me."
"Gladly, sir."
=RK=
Secret prison, Coruscant
I could see the senator and his captor preparing to land on a platform where at least a dozen armed clones were waiting for them. So Palpy had decided to play fast and get his pawns out of custody while he still could. I snorted with amusement. Whoever was held at this facility was not going anywhere.
I sped up and pointed the air car I had borrowed at the ride which the robot and its captive had used. That had the additional benefit of giving me a nice view of what was happening on the platform. A door in its far end opened and four clones came out. They were escorting a sled filled with clear liquid in which the crippled body of Grievous was floating. I was glad that the RI (republic intelligence) folks were not dumb enough to rebuild that menace. Not that it would have helped the tin can, given the circumstances.
I vaulted out of the car moments before it smashed into the vehicle which my targets used to came here. The sheer kinetic strike send both craft spinning under the platform where they smashed in the side of the building and exploded.
While I was still in the air I drew my lightsaber and delivered a diagonal slash. I landed lightly on the platform and smiled at the clones who had their blasters trailed on me. I deactivated my weapon and glanced at the droid in front of me. It tried to turn its head towards me but that little motion was enough to make it understand that it was finished. The upper part of its torso slid to the ground with metallic clatter.
"Stand down men." I ordered. My words were given more weight by the two LAAT's which dropped from the sky and floated over the platform. Their side doors opened and they disgorged 71st platoon.
I walked between the two lines of clones who had snapped to attention after a hissed command from their officer. I stopped in front of the container in which Grievous was floating and beamed when I saw that he was awake and was glaring at me.
"No, my tin friend. You are not leaving so easy. It would be a most impolite thing to do." I turned to the clone officer. "Commander get that thing back to his cell and lock down this facility. There is still a possibility of Separatist attack."
"Understood General! I'll see to it at once, sir!"
I went to the senator and all traces of humor disappeared from my face.
"And take this fellow into custody. He was either under duress or he is a kriffing traitor. When we deal with this mess we'll have to figure out which."
I left the spluttering senator for the clones to handle and headed to the nearest LAAT. I waited for my men to board when my com hissed to life.
"This is commander Rex! The Jedi Temple is under attack! We need reinforcements!"
I shook my head. So much for cannon events. Perhaps it was a good thing that I remembered very few things about the Clone Wars era, so I won't be lulled in a false sense of security by future knowledge I might take for granted. I was sure that there was no attack on the Temple in this period until Order 66 was called and if that was the case it would not be a clone calling in for reinforcements to help the Jedi.
I glanced in the direction of the Senate and then to where I thought the Temple lied. With which mess should I deal first? I wondered before jumping in the LAAT.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone