Master Windu is going to be disappointed, Anakin thought with satisfaction. Palpatine had barely reacted at all when he told him the news. He merely invited Anakin to sit down on one of the low red couches in one of the antechambers of his office.
Behind them, Anakin could see a curious relief displayed on the walls. He thought he could see Jedi, or figures holding lightsabers, battling some kind of huge tube-like creatures. Yet it was one side of this relief that caused his to shudder, bodies were piled up with no more ceremony than if they were firewood.
“Does that”—Anakin nodded to the relief—“have any thing to do with what you told me? That story of Darth Plagueis?”
“Not really,” Palpatine replied amiably, he turned to look at the relief himself. “This is a much more complicated story, battles and adventures, more your kind of story I would imagine.”
Anakin smiled in agreement.
“You seem to be particularly interested in Darth Plagueis,” commented Palpatine. “May I ask why?”
“I’m…not sure,” Anakin admitted shamefacedly. “It is interesting, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” agreed Palpatine. “Would it interest you further if I told you that the story was not a legend?”
“Sorry?” He wasn’t sure if he was following here.
“The Tragedy of Darth Plagues is, in fact, true,” Palpatine told him.
“But…how can you know this?” Anakin demanded.
“Plagueis was my Master,” Palpatine said slowly. “He taught me in the ways of the dark side, and in the ways of the Sith.”
“Why…you…” Before he knew it Anakin he was on his feet, had his lightsaber out and the blue blade pointed at Palpatine. “It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?” He demanded, his anger rising quickly. “You’re a Sith Lord!”
“Yes,” replied Palpatine with a quiet smile, sitting calmly with his hands in his lap. “And what are you going to do about it?”
“I will…I should…I'm going to kill you.” Anakin brought the blade closer, but he found he could only bring it so far.
“You say you do, yet something holds you back,” Palpatine said evenly. “I know you want to kill me, I can feel your anger.” He closed his eyes for a moment, revelling in the young man’s torment. “But there is something else, isn’t there?” Someone else?”
“Padmé.” Anakin spoke before he realised he had.
“You have seen her death,” Palpatine continued, still smiling, “and you seek to prevent it because above all else, you cannot lose Padmé. I know this, Anakin.”
“How dare you say that!” Anakin growled. “How dare you even mention her name!”
“Yet am I supposed to be the Sith that kills her?” Palpatine asked. “Does she have to die?”
“But…my vision…” Anakin protested.
“Your vision may show the future, Anakin,” Palpatine mildly pointed out. “Or…you could choose to change it.”
The blade lowered slightly in Anakin’s hands. “Change what?”
“Become my apprentice,” said Palpatine. “Learn the ways of the dark side and you and Padmé need never be parted.”
There was something in this that made Anakin stop, something that made him consider them further. Palpatine’s words came back to him... Anakin…it doesn’t have to be like this…there is a way you can have what you’ve always wanted…there is a way for you and Padmé to be together…
“I…” Anakin’s voice died in his throat. As a Jedi he knew he had to kill Palpatine, but after what he had said, what he had promised, could he?
“I'm going to turn you over to the Jedi Council,” Anakin decided, deactivating his lightsaber and replacing it on his belt.
“A most wise course of action,” approved Palpatine with a nod. “Yet need I remind you,” he added darkly, “if I die, my offer dies with me.”
It was with a heavy heart and whirling mind he left Palpatine’s office, racing through the corridors as if all nine Corellian hells were unleashed after him.
It did not take Obi-Wan long to catch up to Grievous. The droid general was quickly advancing towards a landing platform where a small starfighter was parked. Obi-Wan urged Boga faster, Grievous could not escape.
Grievous clambered off his bike and prepared to receive Obi-Wan, yet the Jedi was ready. He urged Boga to head down then jumped off her back, somersaulting through the air to come to rest beside Grievous.
Yet Grievous did not have time to stop and chat like last time, he seemed intent on leaving then and there. Obi-Wan came between him and the starfighter, fending off the droid general’s attacks again and again.
“There!” Grievous gestured to two of his guards. “Finish him! I have other business!”
“Oh no, you don’t!” Obi-Wan said, but first he had the two magna guards to contend with.
The first he managed to dispatch quickly, a quick slash at the belly and the thing was in pieces. The second took a little longer, it whirled his electro-staff at him in a way that was creepily familiar to Obi-Wan. Yet he noticed that for no more than a moment, cutting the guard in two and looking about for Grievous.
He was above, racing along the face of the wall of the sinkhole on that crazy wheeled vehicle of his. Obi-Wan gave a shrill whistle. “Boga!” His mount instantly responded, in another moment he was astride her and off after Grievous.
From the circular cockpit of his bike, Grievous turned around to see where Kenobi was. With a start he saw the Jedi was behind him and gaining quickly.
Cursing the Jedi, he increased speed further and entered a tunnel. There was no way that the organic mount could catch him.
Boga was not as fast as Grievous, yet she was able to make quite tenacious leaps at astonishing angles and seemed to know the layout of the tunnels instinctively. So it was not very difficult for Obi-Wan to come up right next to Grievous and grab his vehicle with one hand with his lightsaber lit in the other. Grievous fought him off, batting his away with a free hand and the Jedi would have fallen if Boga had not swerved in time.
“Thanks,” he murmured, continuing after Grievous as they left the tunnels and were out in the open again. Around them the battle was starting to finish, and to his delight Obi-Wan noticed his troops were winning. He would not be on Utapau much longer, he realised. All that remained was Grievous’s death.
Once again he managed to get next to Grievous just as they were racing up the side of the sinkhole. He grabbed the vehicle and this time he dodged Grievous’s punch and continued to hold on. Grievous then grabbed an electro-staff as he passed and lunged it towards the Jedi.
And Obi-Wan realised he needed both hands, so he did the only thing he could do. He dropped his lightsaber. Perhaps it’s a good thing Anakin is not here, he reflected, Anakin would never let me hear the end of it.
He grabbed the electro-staff and hit Grievous over the head with it, then used the moment of distraction to leap from Boga and on to the side of the vehicle just as they were coming back to the landing platform.
Yet this overbalanced it and the vehicle tumbled over the side of the sinkhole. Grievous and Obi-Wan fell the other way, coming to land on the platform behind them.
Grievous crawled away like a demented crab and brought himself up to his full height, he drew out a small blaster pistol and fired quickly.
Yet Obi-Wan was ready, he was on his feet and using the electro-staff to fend off the blaster bolts, closing quickly on Grievous. Then with his free hand, he called into the Force and simply… reached.
One of the blaster pistols flew from Grievous’s hand and landed in Obi-Wan’s. The droid general stared at the Jedi and stared at his open hand.
He then looked up and saw his own death in Obi-Wan’s eyes.
Yet Grievous was not done yet. He dodged Obi-Wan’s attack with the electro-staff and grabbed the middle bar of the weapon to throw the Jedi back. Yet Obi-Wan held his ground, using the close contact he had with Grievous to pull apart pieces of his stomach armour.
Grievous pushed Obi-Wan back again, and this time the shove was so violent that Obi-Wan dropped the staff, blaster and would have fallen over the edge if he had not grabbed on at the last moment. The staff fell down into the sinkhole, yet the pistol…
“This is the end for you, Kenobi,” Grievous declared, picking up the second electro-staff where the remains of the second magna guard lay from before. “Not even your Jedi powers can save you now!”
And suddenly he remembered where the blaster was! He could feel it in the Force, so it was nothing to call it to his hand just as Grievous walked up to him.
Before Grievous realised what was going on, Obi-Wan pulled the trigger. The bolt ripped into the bag containing the remains of the general’s body parts, burning what was there and causing fire to shoot from his eyes. Obi-Wan fired again and Grievous dropped the staff, he writhed on the spot in pain for a few moments before collapsing to the ground.
With a sigh and a smile Obi-Wan climbed back up onto the landing platform and lay there for a few moments. Then he got to his feet and threw the blaster pistol aside.
“So…uncivilised,” he said, putting as much condemnation in his words as he could.
When he heard a soft honk behind him, Obi-Wan smiled again.
“Come on Boga,” he said, mounting her. “I think we just might be done here.”