Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [122]
The mechanical voice of a control droid aboard the cruiser issued from the shuttle’s cockpit speakers. “General, do you wish us to deploy tri-fighters against the starfighters?”
“Negative,” Grievous said. “Save them for when we actually need them. Continue cannon fire.”
“General, our computations suggest that continued close-range fire could subject the shuttle to fratricide.”
Grievous didn’t doubt it. As it was, the hull was blistering with each salvo from the cruiser.
“Ready the forward tractor beam,” he said after a moment. “Fire a disabling burst at all four of us. Then utilize the beam to ensnare what remains of the shuttle and draw it into the docking bay—even if that means dragging a starfighter in, as well. Have battle droids standing by.”
“Yes, General.”
Grievous swiveled his seat toward Palpatine, who was strapped into an acceleration couch between two MagnaGuards. The Supreme Chancellor had been unexpectedly compliant since leaving the bunker, at times brazen enough to take Grievous to task for his less-than-perfect piloting skills.
You fool, you’ll get us both killed! Palpatine had barked at him repeatedly.
What did Palpatine think was going to become of him after they reached the Invisible Hand? Grievous had asked himself. Was he under the delusion that Lords Sidious and Tyranus would simply hold him for ransom? Did it somehow escape him that he wasn’t likely to see Coruscant again?
Once more, Grievous questioned the needless complexity of the Sith Lords’ plan. Why not kill Palpatine sooner rather than later? If he hadn’t been under orders …
You take orders? Palpatine had mocked him.
Which of them was the lesser, indeed?
“Strap in, Chancellor,” Grievous said now. “This could get rough.”
Palpatine sneered. “With you at the controls, I’m certain it will.”
No sooner did Grievous swing back to the viewport than gouts of fire spewed from the Invisible Hand’s forward cannons. Two of the starfighter pilots must have sensed something coming, because they all but glued themselves to the shuttle. Rocked by the burst, the shuttle lost portions of itself to space, and all systems shut down. One of the starfighters was blown away, but the other two had lost little more than their wings.
The shuttle reeled as the tractor beam took hold of it.
With it came the pair of starfighters.
Grievous considered ordering that the docking bay be purged of atmosphere. Somewhere aboard the shuttle there would be extravehicular gear Palpatine could don. But with life support failing, Palpatine was already in enough trouble.
Grievous would just have to deal with the starfighter pilots when the ships were released from the beam.
The three were scarcely through the docking bay’s containment field when explosive charges flung the canopies from the starfighters and two Jedi Knights leapt to the deck, lightsabers ablaze, deflecting blaster bolts from battle droids as they raced for the shuttle. Before the shuttle had even settled to the deck, one of the Jedi had plunged his glowing blue blade straight through the starboard hatch.
Hurrying aft through thickening smoke, Grievous caught sight of Palpatine’s expression of derision.
“Surprise, surprise, General.”
Grievous halted just long enough to say: “We’ll see who’s surprised.”
He saw the lightsaber blade retract. By the time he had shouldered through the hatch onto the landing platform the Jedi had moved to either side. Even while continuing to parry blaster bolts, they surged at him, engaging the two lightsabers he drew from his cloak.
The duel raged through the hold. Battle droids lowered their weapons for fear of hitting Grievous. These Jedi were more proficient than the ones he had fought in the bunker,