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“Kit and I are nearby.”

Pressed into the turbolift with Stass Allie, Palpatine’s guards and advisers, and Republica’s security personnel, Shaak Ti watched the display tick off the floors.

No one spoke until the car had reached the first sublevel.

“Don’t stop,” Shaak Ti told the security man closest to the controls. “The deeper we go, the better.”

“All the way to the bottom?” the man asked.

She nodded. “All the way to the bottom.”

Again.

The turbolift deposited them not far from where she had been earlier, though on the opposite side of the tunnel leading to the east skydock. As they hurried for the tunnel, Shaak Ti took a moment to survey the huge space for some sign of Captain Dyne’s team. Considering all that had happened since she left, it was likely that Dyne and Commander Valiant had curtailed the search for Sidious’s hideaway. Or perhaps they were still at it, somewhere in the sub-basement. Just short of entering the tunnel, she caught a glance of a bright silver protocol droid that might have been TC-16 hastening toward the exit to the west skydock.

The tunnel was darker than it should have been at that time of day, and the lower reaches of the canyon were darker still.

“Wait here,” Shaak Ti instructed the Red Guards and Palpatine when they had reached the mouth of the tunnel.

Stass Allie strode to the center of the platform and gazed up at the buildings that loomed on all sides. “Grievous’s forces must have destroyed the orbital mirror that feeds this sector.”

Shaak Ti looked straight up at the sliver of sky.

“The shield is down. They must have taken out the generator.”

Allie blew out her breath. “I’ll find an appropriate vehicle to confiscate.”

Shaak Ti laid a hand on her upper arm. “Too risky. We should remain as close to ground as possible.”

Allie indicated the stairway that led to the mag-lev platform. “The train won’t take us to the bunker complex, but close enough.”

Shaak Ti smiled at her and reactivated the comlink.

“Mace,” she said when he answered. “Another change in plans …”

Dragging himself out from under plasteel girders and chunks of ferrocrete, Count Dooku came shakily to his feet and gazed in astonished disbelief at the shambles of the control room. Had the containment dome been so weak that it had succumbed to flurries of ricocheting blaster bolts, or had Skywalker’s voiced rage actually called the ceiling down?

Had Dooku not leapt forcefully at the last moment, he might have been buried, as the two Jedi were, somewhere below, in the expanse of rubble that covered the archive room. He was certain that they had survived. But if nothing else they were trapped, which had been the intent from the start.

But Skywalker … Assuming that he had grown powerful enough to have collapsed the dome, the end result was simply further evidence that he would someday undo himself. Wasn’t it? Because admitting to any alternative explanation meant accepting that Skywalker was potentially a greater threat to the Sith than anyone realized.

Initially, it had cheered him to observe that Skywalker and Kenobi had finally learned to fight together; to see how powerful they had become in partnership. Complementing each other’s strengths, compensating for each other’s weaknesses. Kenobi making full use of his inherent discretion to balance young Skywalker’s inattentive rowdiness. He could have watched them until the light faded on fair Tythe. And he wished that General Grievous could have been there to witness the display for himself.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

What if it should all come crashing down? he found himself thinking, as he dusted himself off and raced to exit the ruined facility.

What if Grievous was outwitted and destroyed at Coruscant? Sidious, apprehended and defeated? What if the Jedi should triumph, after all?

What would become of his dream of a galaxy brought under eminent stewardship?

On Vjun, Yoda had implied that the Jedi Temple would always be open to Dooku’s return … But, no. There was no turning back from the