Crisis (4)

Holding cells, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

The melted remains of the armored door barring Dooku's cell were hauled out with the Force and the aging Sith saw a brown skinned Zabrak woman on the other side. She gave him once over and looked him in the eyes critically.

"Kadrian. It's nice to see you again."

The woman bowed to her master and walked towards him. He waved with the stump of his left arm at the metal belt to which his remaining hand was chained and his part-time bodyguard cut through his bindings with her blade.

Dooku stood up and stretched. Once the artifact binding his powers was sliced open he could again bathe in the full presence of the Force. Suddenly he looked a decade younger.

Kadrian retrieved a curved lightsaber from her belt and respectfully presented it to his master who gave her an approving nod and retrieved the weapon. It was one of his spare sabers which he kept in his various strongholds.

"We need to leave, master. Unfortunately we do not have the forces at hand to deal with the Jedi today."

"Indeed. We'll have our vengeance another day."

They hurried away escorted by four bounty hunters wearing mandalorian style armors and two squads of commando droids. However when they exited the prison wing the Separatists ran headlong into a single man.

The vanguard which consisted by six droids opened fire. Their shots were intercepted by purple lightsaber blade which reflected them back at them. The man threw his cloak at a pair of the commandos obscuring their vision for a moment. He moved much faster than a human should be able to and cut off the heads of two machines with single sweeping strike. The Jedi used telekinesis to hurl another pair at nearby wall from which they bounced with godawful clatter.

In the next moment he was upon the last two droids which were still trying to shoot him. He deflected a blaster bolt at the weapon of the one that was further away and slashed through the chest of the closer robot. He pulled the second one to him and impaled it on his saber. The Jedi discarded the destroyed droid and turned to the Sith and his Acolyte.

"Count Dooku." the black man hissed the Sith's name. "You won't escape."

"Is that so, Master Windu? Your anger is plain for all to see. That's not the Jedi way, is it?" taunted Dooku.

The Count and Say activated their crimson blades and charged the Jedi Master.

=RK=

East Ball Room, Senate Building, Coruscant

Anakin came back to the land of the living feeling cramps all over his body. He blinked owlishly trying to figure out where he was. On the bright side he found out that his head was in Padme's lap. That was the only good news. He looked around and saw a bunch of Senators with few aides. They were all gathered in the center of a large, round room. Around them he could see a cage made of visible laser beams which emanated from charges placed on the walls around them.

"What did I miss?" he quipped at his wife who looked at him with relief in her eyes.

"That your Chancellor does not value your lives." Bane deadpanned.

The bounty hunter had tried to contact the droid he sent to retrieve Grievous but for the last few minutes that was unsuccessful. He drew one of his blaster pistols and shot couple of senators in the head. The rest of the politicians huddled together like a herd of scared cattle. All but that pretty senator from Naboo who was tending to Skywalker. Bane smirked and aimed his gun between the woman's eyes.

The Jedi jumped on his feet and shielded her with his body. Bane's hand twitched and he pressed the trigger.

"Anakin!" shouted Padme.

=RK=

LAAT en route to the Jedi Temple/ Great Hall, Jedi Temple, Coruscant

We were minutes away from the battle and I was treated with something I dreaded. It was a surreal experience – like being in two places at the same time. On one hand I was in the hold of the gunship and was looking outside at the space-scrapers flashing by us. Yet, through my connection with Ahsoka, I perceived what was happening in the Temple. It was like the nightmarish memories of Veil on Shili. I could only helplessly watch what was happening.

In the Great Hall Rex opened fire on the advancing Magna Guards as the Jedi charged them. He was able to hit few times the rightmost droid in the head but that only slowed it down.

The Mon Calamari Jedi twirled his saber in his hands and struck it in the ground. A wave of telekinetic energy flew from his blade and moved under the droids then exploded upwards. The Magna Guards were thrown straight in the air.

Ahsoka and Barriss jumped at the momentarily helpless droids but were intercepted by the two Acolytes. Nahdar let the Padawan to face the Dark Jedi for the time being and he jumped at the closest airborne robot. He sliced the machine in two and before landing threw his lightsaber at another.

Rex used this opportunity to unload shot after shot at the momentarily disabled Magna Guards and managed to take out one of the droids.

The machines crashed on the ground and before they could recover, Vebb and Rex were upon them. Concentrated blaster fire destroyed another droid leaving the last two to face the male Jedi. They were behind the rest of the combatants so the clone commander did not have a good shot at them.

Barriss was holding her own against the male Acolyte but Ahsoka was not so fortunate. The woman she was facing was something else. There was no sight of the furious attacks which the Padawan had expected thanks to her encounters with Ventress. Instead she was facing cold and calculated precision. Every movement the female she was fighting with made was measured and economic. The only reason why Tano was not falling back in front of the woman was because the Dark Jedi was not advancing but content to probe Asoka's defenses and take her measure.

The woman was using a Makashi form which she had modified to suit her own mindset.

On the other side of the hall the tide of battle suddenly turned. The advance of the droids and their few Dark Jedi leaders was stopped cold when a small, green figure jumped from one of the upper floors.

Yoda landed on the ground and his lightsaber flew from his belt to his outstretched right hand. He frowned at the carnage that littered his Temple. His ears drooped in regret. He had failed his people. For a second time the Sith had waltzed in the Jedi Temple without a care in the world.

To his left a young Padawan was fighting in a desperate attempt to shield his fallen master but was hard pressed to survive against two droids using force staffs. For a brief second anger flashed through the ancient eyes of the Jedi's Grandmaster before being beaten back and locked away. The two Magna Guards crumbled to the floor smashed to pieces. It was like a careless giant stepped on and flattened the machines.

Yoda gave a small nod to the Twi'lek Padawan and jumped in the fray. He was an emerald blur which moved from droid to droid, leaving machines destroyed by precise strikes behind. The frantic efforts of the commandos to shoot him down had no effect. They either missed the small ball of mayhem or their shots were expertly directed back to the sender. Only the Magna Guards lasted a moment or two longer because they were simply a bit sturdier and Yoda was not about to exhaust himself when he did not know if those were the only forces he'll have to face that day so he did not go all out.

He had turned over a thirty droids into scrap metal when two of the Dark Jedi darted in his way. The look of determination on the small Jedi's face never wavered and he jumped at his new attackers.

Yoda parried a slash by one and rolled over a sweeping strike from the other. Before landing for a split second he tried to cut the left side of one of his adversaries but the man managed to interpose his saber in front of the attack. The Jedi touched the ground and slashed at the legs of the same man only to be forced to jump away from an overhead strike by the other. While in midair he pulled his first target towards him with a telekinetic force and landed on the unfortunate man's shoulder. His emerald blade was buried in the Dark Jedi's mask.

He jumped up when a horizontal strike aimed at him decapitated the dead man. Yoda parried another slash and went on the offensive. He was jumping and spinning around the remaining fallen Jedi who was desperately trying to parry or avoid slashes coming from all sides.

The man had to jump when Yoda found himself at his feet and tried to cut him off at the knees. The Grandmaster grabbed the airborne man in a solid Force grip and slammed him in the ground hard enough to crack the marble. The broken man expired with a lightsaber blade struck through the top of his head.

Yoda rolled between a pair of commando droids who were taking pot shots at his Jedi, jumped up and took their heads with a single strike. From the height of his brief flight he saw a sight that made his eyes widen.

Ever since they felt Master Yoda joining the fight the Jedi were heartened and fought with redoubled efforts. Nahar, with the help of a lucky shot by Rex was able to deal with another of the Magna Guards leaving him only one as an obstacle to helping the Padawan.

That's when everything went wrong for the Jedi.

Rex was trying to find a clear shot to the remaining droid. He was not about to send blaster bolts where Ahsoka and her friend were engaged with the Sith. A stray shot there could end deflected at anyone.

The commander sensed something from behind him and tried to roll away but an invisible force slammed in his side and send him flying at a nearby column. He struck the hard stone with a grunt of pain. He felt a rib or two snapping in his right side. Rex frantically searched for his pistols which he had dropped but before finding his weapons an armored foot slammed in his left side and sent him back at the column. He looked up and found himself starring at the barrel of a heavy blaster held by a man in a gray mandalorian armor.

"Don't." grunted the warrior who had him at gunpoint.

Rex glanced to the battle between the Jedi and his heart froze. Another enemy had stalked up to them unnoticed.

Ventress was upon the Padawan like a Fury. The girls sensed her in the last moment but could hardly disengage from their opponents in order to face her.

Barriss was the one to feel her wrath. The young Jedi stepped back so she could face both the enemy she was engaging and the onrushing Sith. She looked grimly at her new enemy and prepared to defend herself. However moments later she found out that Ventress was on another level altogether from the man she was facing. And the female Sith was pissed off.

Despite that the young Mirialan managed to hold off both of them for few seconds. Their blades moved too fast for ordinary human eyes to follow as they clashed in a short and lethal union. Barriss deflected a slash that would have cut off her left hand and would have demolished her heart but was not fast enough to defend herself from Asajj's next attack. The Sith woman darted forward and plunged her scarlet blade in the Jedi's gut.

"Tano, stand down or your friend is finished!" growled Ventress.

Ahsoka shouted Offee's name and tried to run to her aid but was stopped cold by he own opponent. The female Acolyte used the distraction to swipe at the Padawan's saber arm and left a deep burned scar on it.

Skywalker's apprentice shouted in pain and surprise before finding herself on the ground after being kicked in the back of her knees. She tried to stand up but froze when a hand snaked around her and a crimson lightsaber blade was activated centimeter from her throat.

"That's quite enough, Jedi. Drop your weapon or the girls die." Ventress ordered the Mon Calamari male who had just disposed of the last Magna Guard.

Vebb glared at the Sith but after seeing the condition of the Padawan nodded sullenly and deactivated his lightsaber. He glared at the Dark Jedi and let his weapon fall to the ground.

Nahdar cursed when he was yanked hard by a Force pull and found himself lying on the ground next to Barriss who was clutching her abdomen and moaning quietly. Ahsoka grunted when she was thrown to nearby on the floor and the woman who had kept her at lightsaber point turned around and spoke through a voice amplifier. She could be heard over the rumbling sounds of the battle.

"Master Yoda, unless you want to see more of your Jedi die, you will stand down now!"

As if those words were a predefined signal, the droids and remaining Acolyte's disengaged and jumped back from their enemies.

The Grandmaster of the Order stared at the Dark Jedi who apparently led this attack. The woman nodded at one of her men who raised his red lightsaber over the prone form of Ahsoka Tano.

"Drop your weapons now or more of you will die!" she nodded at the Acolyte.

Many of the Jedi in the great hall could see how the Dark Jedi's lightsaber arched towards the young Togruta who was laying stunned on the ground.

"Not again!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

We were close, damn it! Only twenty more seconds and the LAATs could fly straight through the demolished doors of the temple!

My right hand shook while gripping a handhold so hard that the metal under my fingers groaned. I could see through Asoka's unfocused eyes the crimson blade falling for the kill.