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Bail held her gaze, and nodded in understanding. “Padmé, if it’s any comfort to you, please know that my wife and I would do anything to protect you and those close to you.”

“Thank you, Bail,” she said. “With all my heart, thank you.”

On Utapau, an Outer Rim world of vast sinkholes and lizard mounts, Viceroy Nute Gunray watched a grainy HoloNet image of General Grievous lower the boom on Coruscant.

Had he been wrong to underestimate the cyborg? Might this war actually end with the Republic vanquished? It was almost too much to contemplate: unrestricted trade from Core to Outer Rim, undreamed of wealth, unlimited possessions …

Gunray glanced at Shu Mai, Passel Argente, San Hill, and the rest, a backslapping fellowship all of a sudden. Smiling broadly—for the first time in several years—he joined them in celebration.

In his quarters in the Temple, Yoda watched a HoloNet feed that showed the bodies of two Jedi drifting in space, close to the flagship of the Separatist fleet. The corners of his mouth pulled down in sadness, he turned to the comlink.

“See them, I do.”

Mace’s voice rumbled from the speaker. “If we can ever break through this fighter screen, we’ll storm the cruiser.”

“Kill the Supreme Chancellor, Grievous will.”

“I don’t think so. He’s had plenty of chances already.”

“Wait, then, to hear the Separatists’ demands, we should.”

“The Senate will give away Coruscant to effect Palpatine’s release.”

“Worse the situation will be if the Supreme Chancellor dies. Fall, the Republic will.”

Mace fell silent for a moment. Yoda saw him in the cockpit of the cruiser he and Kit had piloted off Coruscant. “What should we do?”

“To the Force, look for guidance. Accept what fate has placed before us. For now, prevent Grievous’s fleet from escaping to hyperspace, you must. Recalled, many Jedi and others have been. Turn, the battle will, when they arrive.”

“Master Yoda, we were close to capturing Sidious. I could feel it.”

“Knew this, Sidious did. Hiding, he is.”

No longer on Coruscant, Yoda thought.

“We’ll pin Grievous here, like the vermin he is.”

Mace severed the transmission, and Yoda tottered to the windows. Western Coruscant was engulfed by darkness; the sky above, splintered by rabid light. Calling his lightsaber to his hand, he ignited the blade and waved it through the air.

Perilous the future will be. A cause for grave concern.

But the battle in local space wasn’t the end.

Beginning, the final act was!

Dooku had ordered the droid pilot of the sloop to revert from hyperspace for a brief time at the planet Nelvaan. Should any ships among the Republic battle group at Tythe plot his escape course, it would appear that Nelvaan was his destination. The sloop’s Geonosian technology would mask the fact that he had jumped almost immediately to Coruscant to join Grievous, and to play out the final act of the drama Sidious had composed.

The abduction of Palpatine had not only abbreviated the search for him, but also allowed Sidious to escape Coruscant undetected. But those events had been minor acts. Sidious would never have allowed the Jedi to expose him. And Palpatine was hardly the prize he appeared to be.

The greater prize, Sidious had told Dooku during their most recent communication, was Anakin Skywalker.

“Long have you watched him,” Dooku had said, repeating words Sidious himself had spoken.

“Longer than you know, Lord Tyranus. Longer than you know. And the time has come to test him again.”

“His skills, my lord?”

“The depth of his anger. His willingness to go beyond the Force, as the Jedi know it, and to call on the power of the dark side. General Grievous will activate a special beacon that will call Skywalker and Kenobi back to Coruscant, and onto the stage we will set for them.”

But not to capture them.

“You will duel them,” Sidious had said. “Kill Kenobi. His only purpose is to die and, in so doing, ignite young Skywalker to tap the depths of his fear and rage. Should you defeat Skywalker easily, then we will know that he is not prepared