Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [117]
And all for what? Grievous asked himself. The timid old man backed to the bunker’s rear wall? The would-be champion of democracy, who had loosed his clone army against the merchants and builders and traders who opposed his rule—his Republic?
Best to put the Jedi out of her misery, Grievous thought. Which he did with a single blade to the heart—for it would have been cruel to do otherwise.
Elsewhere his three surviving elites were doing well against five Red Guards. With time counting down, he waded into the thick of the action. Sensing him, one guard feinted a rotation to the left, then pivoted to the right with his force pike raised at face level. A move Grievous could appreciate, although he was no longer in the space through which the weapon sliced. Using two blades, he nipped the guard’s cowled head from his torso. The next he speared from behind in both kidneys. Opening the backs of another’s thighs, he moved on, disemboweling the fourth.
The last guard was already dead by the time he reached him.
With a gesture, Grievous instructed his elite to secure the bunker’s hexagonal door. Then, deactivating his lightsabers, he turned to Palpatine.
“Now, Chancellor,” he announced, “you’re coming with us.”
Palpatine neither cowered nor protested. He merely said: “You will be a true loss to the forces you represent.”
The remark took Grievous by surprise. Was this praise?
“Four Jedi Knights, all these soldiers and guards,” Palpatine went on, gesturing broadly. “Why not wait until Shaak Ti and Stass Allie arrive.” He cocked his head to one side. “I think I hear them coming. They are Masters, after all.”
Grievous didn’t respond immediately. Was Palpatine trying to trick him? “I might at any other time,” he said finally. “But a ship awaits us that will take you from Coruscant—and from your cherished Republic, as well.”
Palpatine mocked him with a sneer. “Do you actually believe that this plan will succeed?”
Grievous returned the look. “You’re more defiant than I was led to believe, Chancellor. But, yes, the plan will succeed—and to your deficit. I would gladly kill you now but for my orders.”
“So you take orders,” Palpatine said, moving with deliberate lethargy. “Which of us, then, is the lesser?” Before Grievous could reply, he added: “My death won’t end this war, General.”
Grievous had wondered about that. Understandably, Lord Sidious had his plan, but did he actually believe that Palpatine’s death would prompt the Jedi to lay down their lightsabers? Thrown into turmoil by the Chancellor’s death, could the Senate order the Jedi to stand down? After years of warfare, would the Republic suddenly capitulate?
The sound of rapid footfalls roused him, and he gestured to the bunker’s rear door. “Move,” he told Palpatine.
The MagnaGuards stepped forward to make certain that Palpatine obeyed.
Grievous hurried to the bunker’s communication console. The stud switch and control pad for the emergency beacon were precisely where Tyranus said they would be. After entering the code Tyranus had provided, Grievous pressed his alloy hand to the switch.
Palpatine watched him from the doorway. “That will call many Jedi down on you, General—some of whom you may regret having summoned.”
Grievous glared at him. “Only if they fail to challenge me.”
Word of the firefight on the landing platform reached Mace and Kit in the gunship while they were returning to Sah’c. It hadn’t taken long to piece together what had happened: the Separatists had managed to hijack a Republic gunship and infiltrate the bunker complex shield by timing their arrival to coincide with that of the ship carrying Palpatine, Shaak Ti, and the others. An ARC commander verified that the hijacked gunship had been piloted by droids, but the same ARC would neither confirm nor deny that Grievous had been aboard the destroyed ship.
That, alone, was cause for concern.
Mace and Kit thought they knew what had occurred, and hoped they