Hello Friends! I hope that you all had a splendiferous Christmas and New Year! I apologize for not posting last week. I was enjoying a much needed Christmas break!
It is finally 2021, friends, and I am so excited to see what this new year has in store for us, and in honor of the new year, I want to post the next chapter of my Fan Fiction that I have been working on. I posted the teaser trailer and first chapter a few weeks ago, and you can view that post to catch up on the story if you haven’t read chapter one yet here.
I hope you all enjoy this next chapter, and please be on the lookout for the long-delayed (apologizes) post on the Mandalorian later this week.
Before we jump into this chapter, please be aware that this chapter will contain spoilers for Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, so if you have not watched Episode III and do not want any spoilers, please do not read this chapter.
Alright, enough with the formalities, without further ado, I present Chapter two of The Revenge of the Master that I have titled: The Chancellor and the Count….enjoy! 😉
After fighting their way through battle droids, destroyers, and a faulty elevator, Obi-Wan, Anakin, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory finally reached the observational point. During their journey to the observational deck, Amy and Rory had both acquired guns from the unfortunate battle droids and, to the great protestation of the Doctor, had learned to use them quite well. Below them the Chancellor sat in a chair, to which he was secured by his wrists. They made their way down to him.
“Chancellor,” Obi-Wan said, bowing slightly before him.
“Are you alright?” Anakin queried, stepping beside him.
However, Chancellor Palpatine was not looking at them. The door they had entered through had just opened again. A gray-haired man, wearing a dark suit and long cloak stepped into the room. Behind him two high ranking battle droids followed.
“Count Dooku,” Palpatine said. His face was cold and stern.
Obi-Wan and Anakin turned to face the on-coming Sith lord.
“Doctor, you and your companions need to find cover. Me and Anakin will take care of this,” Obi-Wan asserted to the Doctor quietly under his breath. The Doctor nodded and quickly led the Ponds behind Palpatine’s prison chair where they were hidden from view but not for long.
“This time we will do it together,” Obi-Wan disclosed to Anakin, with a of bit annoyance.
“I was about to say that,” Anakin parodied as he walked to stand side by side with Obi-Wan.
Chancellor Palpatine looked at them gravely and pleaded, “Get help. You’re no match for him. He’s a Sith Lord.”
“Chancellor Palpatine, Sith lords are our specialty,” Obi-Wan countered, nodding to him politely.
“Your swords please. We don’t want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor,” Count Dooku announced in a deep, throaty voice as he approached the two Jedi Knights.
They drew their swords and walked forward to meet their opponent.
“You won’t get away this time Dooku,” Obi-Wan protested confidently.
There was a loud clash as the battle begun.
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory peeked out from the behind the Chancellor’s chair at the epic light saber duel that was erupting before their eyes.
“Doctor, shouldn’t we help? I can’t stand here and do nothing!” Amy demanded, grabbing Rory’s hand and squeezing it tightly. He winced.
“I would Amy, but this is the past. We need to be very careful that we don’t change anything by messing with time, because it always tends to mess back. We don’t know enough, including the reason why our timestreams were merged with Obi-Wan’s and Anakin’s. I—” the Doctor was cut off suddenly by a loud thud, and Obi-Wan’s body went skidding across the floor. A large beam instantly fell across his legs and trapped him.
Amy jumped up, and with Rory holding on to her hand, ran to his body.
“Amy!” the Doctor shouted, bounding up and dashing after them.
Rory kneeled by Obi-Wan and laid two fingers on his wrist.
“He still has a pulse. Just unconscious…I think,” Rory pronounced quietly.
“Doctor, we need to get this beam off…” Amy was interrupted by a load groan, then strange laughter that came from the Chancellor’s chair.
“Good, Anakin…good,” the Chancellor chuckled. “Kill him…kill him now.”
From where they were kneeling by Obi-Wan, the Doctor and the Ponds looked up at these words to see Count Dooku at the mercy of Anakin, who was holding two light sabers to his throat.
The Doctor stood up and slowly walked toward where Anakin stood.
“Don’t do it, Anakin. Violence…killing never solves everything. Wait for Obi-Wan.” The Doctor pleaded.
“You are not above me, whoever you are. You have no authority here. Do what you must, Anakin,” Palpatine persisted.
“I shouldn’t,” Anakin began. Conflict residing in his eyes.
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory glimpsed this conflict, and they all sat in an anxious restlessness.
“Think about what you’re doing, Anakin,” the Doctor argued. His hands were outstretched toward Anakin as if he was silently beseeching him to make the wisest decision.
“Do it!” Palpatine snarled. His voice instantly changing from ingratiating and persuasive to irritable, crinkly, and scratchy: the equivalent to grinding sandpaper.
The sound of the light sabers sliding against each other sounded in the room as Anakin executed the Chancellor’s command, and Dooku’s head fell to the floor.
The Doctor sighed in disappointment and turned back to where Amy and Rory were kneeling besides Obi-Wan.
His voice returning to that civilized, mellow tone, the Chancellor addressed Anakin, “You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive.”
“Yes, but he was an unarmed prisoner. I shouldn’t have done that. It isn’t the Jedi way,” Anakin faltered, disappointment thick in his voice.
Palpatine lowered his voice, but the Doctor caught his words. “It is only natural…he cut off your arm, and you wanted revenge. It wasn’t the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother…and the sand people?” he looked at him knowingly before continuing, “Now…we must leave before more battle droids arrive.”
He began to walk briskly out of the room with Anakin following behind him.
“Um…excuse me…we need some assistance if you don’t mind,” Rory interjected, stepping out to meet them.
Anakin ran to them and unexpectedly met the Doctor’s gaze, which was filed with melancholic sorrow. Anakin could not look at him, and he dropped his eyes back to the floor where Obi-Wan lay.
“Anakin, there is no time,” the Chancellor sternly stated.
“We can’t just leave him!” Amy protested, standing to her feet in haste.
“Know your place, young lady!” He snapped at her.
“He seems to be alright,” Anakin said as he easily lifted the beam and freed Obi-Wan’s legs.
Amy shot Rory an impressed glance, and he gave her one that clearly said, “I did try!”
“Leave him, or we will never make it!” Palpatine insisted, his face a picture of impatience.
“His fate will be the same as ours,” Anakin imparted.
With the help of Amy and Rory, Obi-Wan was hoisted onto Anakin’s back as they left the room. The Doctor had stayed quiet through all of this simply watching and listening. All he knew was that he needed to know more, and he hated not knowing.
They all left the room and headed for the nearest elevator.
After many seconds of waiting anxiously, Anakin finally said, “The elevator’s not working.”
Outside in the nothingness of space above Coruscant, the Republic’s starship fleet had increased fire on General Grievous’s ship, which was now badly damaged.
“Leave it to me,” The Doctor proclaimed, stepping in front of Anakin and whipping out his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the elevator button, and a shower of sparks erupted. However, the elevator did not open. The Doctor irritably banged the screwdriver against his hand and adjusted the settings.
“This isn’t made of wood…is it?”
“Doctor…” Amy sighed, rolling her eyes.
“We are wasting time!” The Chancellor barked.
“There will be no need for that, Doctor. R2, activate elevator 3224.” Anakin said into a communication device that connected them to R2 and the hanger bay.
“We will never find our way out of here! The ship is half destroyed as it is! There is no way any ships are left on the main hanger bay,” the Chancellor imparted, shaking his head in dismay.
“Well, if we can make our way back to the flight deck, I can get us all out of here on the Tardis,” The Doctor suggested. He rubbed his hands together and smiled childishly.
“Are you sure, Doctor?” Anakin asked.
“Quite sure!”
“Well…alright…but I’m leaving it up to you to get us down there. Let’s just hope General Grievous doesn’t come looking for us,” Anakin complied.
They began to walk back the way they had come, aiming for the main flight deck when the Republic’s fleet dealt a devastating blow to General Grievous’s ship. The nose of the ship dove leaving Amy holding onto Rory, who was holding onto the Doctor, who was holding onto the Chancellor, who was holding onto Anakin who was holding onto a steel bar and carrying Obi-Wan on his back. The corridor that had once been horizontal was now vertical, and gravity was not on their side.
It was at this time that Obi-Wan awoke out of his unconscious state. He panicked at the sight of things and wrapping his arms around Anakin’s chest looked down to see the mess that they were in. Anakin coughed.
“Easy…we’re in a bit of a situation here,” He breathed through the tight grip Obi-Wan had on his chest.
From below the Doctor smiled at seeing Obi-Wan awake. He waved up at the confused Jedi and chuckled, “Good morning!”
“Did I miss something?” Obi-Wan commented sarcastically.
“Hold on.”
Above them a rumbling sounded, and they saw five large destroyers and several battle droids falling toward them, all of which could have easily smacked one of them on the head.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Anakin whispered.
“Too late, jump!” Obi-Wan shouted and they all let go and fell down what seemed like an endless corridor.
As they fell Rory grabbed onto Amy, who grabbed onto the Doctor, who grabbed onto the Chancellor, who grabbed onto Obi-Wan, who grabbed onto Anakin.
Anakin and Obi-Wan shot their grappling hooks into one of the open doors that lined the corridor and all six of them swung into another long corridor just as the ship began to level out. Ahead of them the main hanger bay was just visible.
“Well…that was lucky,” Obi-Wan quipped, brushing himself off as he winced to stand up.
“Don’t get too comfortable…battle droids,” Anakin chided. He pointed down the hall where battle droids and destroyers were rushing towards them.
“Let’s see if we can find something in the hanger bay that is still flyable,” Obi-Wan suggested.
“We can take the Tardis,” The Doctor chimed in. The Chancellor eyed him skeptically.
“Good thinking, Doctor! Get the Chancellor and your companions to the Tardis. Anakin and I will deal with these battle droids,” Obi-Wan directed, drawing his lightsaber.
“Won’t you need help?”
“We will simply hold them off until you can get to the Tardis, then we will make a run for it.”
The Doctor nodded and escorted the Chancellor and the Ponds to where he thought the Tardis lay in the Hanger Bay.
“Are you ready, Anakin?”
“Always, Master.”
The sound of blaster shots being deflected from the Jedi’s laser swords sounded behind the Doctor. He instinctively lowered his head and dashed into the hanger bay. But the Tardis was nowhere to be seen.
“Doctor, where’s the Tardis?” Amy queried although she did not want to know the answer to her question.
Behind them the sound of the battle droids’ shooting became louder. From beside them R2-D2 came rolling up, whistling something in urgency that even the Doctor could not understand.
The shooting stopped as Anakin and Obi-Wan came running into the hanger bay.
“We’ve stopped them for now, but there are more coming. Doctor, where is the Tardis?” Obi-Wan breathlessly inquired.
The Doctor looked blankly at him and didn’t say a word.
“What is it, R2?” Anakin asked. “No, no one is saying it’s your fault…what?”
“What is it, Anakin?” Obi-Wan probed.
“He says he had been watching the big blue thing the whole time. It just vanished.”
“She left without us…” The Doctor mumbled, horrified.
The was a long pause that was rudely interrupted by the noise of destroyers and battle droids making their way toward the stranded party.
“Doctor? Plan B?” Rory suggested, trying to be helpful, but failing all the same.
“It’s too late…they’ve found us,” Obi-Wan added.
Several destroyers came rolling up to the scene with what Amy thought to be hundreds of the little battle droids.
“Drop your weapons Jedi scum, and the rest of you too! We’re taking you to the General,” the little droids hissed at them in their petite automated voices.
The party surrendered, and off they were marched off to meet the heinous cyborg, General Grievous…
Well, I hope you enjoyed that, friends! Once again, I will be posting on the Mandalorian later this week, so please stay tuned and Happy 2021!
Until next time,
Time Lady of Coruscant 😁
The Limelight 