Attack of the Clones (38 page)

Dooku took the cartridge. “I will take the designs with me,” he agreed. “The plans will be much safer with my Master.”

With a curt bow, the Count swept from the room.

Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padmé crouched in the open side of a gunship as it sped across the expanding battlefield
outside the arena, its laser cannons blaring, its shields turning back the responding fire from the droids.

Below them, clone troopers rushed across the battlefield on speeder bikes, weaving their way and firing all the while.

“They’re good,” Obi-Wan remarked, and Anakin nodded.

Their attention went right back to their own situation, then, as the gunship approached a huge Techno Union starship and opened fire. Its laser cannons slammed away at the giant, but seemed to be having little effect.

“Aim right above the fuel cells!” Anakin cried to the gunner. With a slight adjustment, the gunner let fly his next burst.

Huge explosions rocked the starship and it began to tilt ominously to the side. The gunship, and others rushing in nearby, swerved aside as the great craft toppled.

“Good call!” Obi-Wan congratulated his Padawan, then he shouted to the crew, “Those Trade Federation starships are taking off! Target them quickly!”

“They’re too big, Master,” Anakin replied. “The groundtroopers will have to take them out.”

The gunship roared across the widening battlefield, lasers blasting away, explosions erupting all about it, a scene of spectacular destruction and frenzy. Mace Windu shook his head and looked to Yoda.

“Capture Dooku, we must,” Yoda said, his calm and steady voice as strong an anchor as Mace could have asked for in that momentous moment. “If escape he does, he will rally more systems to his cause.”

Mace looked to the diminutive Master and nodded grimly. “Captain, land at that assembly point ahead,” he ordered the clone driving his gunship, and the obedient pilot fast settled the craft. Mace, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and a
host of clone troopers jumped out, but Yoda did not follow.

“To the forward command center, take me,” he instructed, and the gunship lifted away.

As soon as they put down at the relative safety of the position that had been secured as the command center, the clone commander rushed to the open gunship dropdoor. “Master Yoda, all forward positions are advancing.”

“Very good, very good,” Yoda said. “Concentrate all your fire on the nearest starship.”

“Yes, sir!”

The clone commander ran off, organizing his leaders as he went. Soon after, the forward groups began picking their targets in a more coordinated manner, and the concentrated fire succeeded where sporadic bursts could not, taking down one starship after another.

The gunship slowed and banked suddenly, circling a droid gun emplacement, coming too fast around the back for the stationary system to swivel. A furious barrage destroyed the defensive position completely, but it did manage a single shot the gunship’s way, rocking the craft hard.

“Hold on!” Obi-Wan cried, grabbing the edge of the open dropdoor.

“Can’t think of a better choice!” Padmé yelled back at him.

Obi-Wan turned a smirk her way, or started to, but then he saw a Geonosian speeder soaring away, an unmistakable figure in the open cockpit. Two fighters flanked the speeder, the trio heading fast away from the main fighting. “Look! Over there!”

“It’s Dooku!” Anakin cried. “Shoot him down!”

“We’re out of ordnance, sir,” the clone captain replied.

“Follow him!” Anakin ordered.

The pilot put the ship up on its side, banking fast to turn into a straight run for the fleeing Count.

“We’re going to need some help,” Padmé remarked.

“No, there’s no time,” said Obi-Wan. “Anakin and I can handle this.”

As the gunship began to close, the fighters flanking Dooku banked away suddenly, veering off left and right, turning to engage. The clone pilot of the gunship was up to the task, weaving his way through their fire, but then another blast rocked the ship, and with the vehicle up on edge, Obi-Wan and Anakin had to hold on tight and scramble to stay in.

Padmé wasn’t so fortunate.

One moment, she was beside Anakin, and then she was gone, tumbling out the open dropdoor.

“Padmé!” Anakin screamed. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, and he couldn’t catch her, couldn’t reach out fast enough.

She tumbled down and hit the ground hard, and lay very still.

“Padmé!” Anakin cried again, and then he yelled to the clone pilot, “Put the ship down!”

Obi-Wan stood before him, his hands on Anakin’s shoulders, holding him steady and firm. “Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way,” he reminded his Padawan. He turned to the pilot. “Follow that speeder.”

Anakin pushed to the side, peering over his Master’s shoulder, and growled, “Lower the ship!”

Obi-Wan turned to face him again, and this time, his look was not so sympathetic. “Anakin,” he said flatly, showing that there was no room for debate. “I can’t take Dooku alone. If we catch him, we can end this war right now. We have a job to do.”

“I don’t care!” Anakin yelled at him. He pushed out
to the side again and yelled at the pilot, “Put the ship down!”

“You’ll be expelled from the Jedi Order,” Obi-Wan said, his grim look showing no room for any argument.

The blunt statement hit Anakin hard. “I can’t leave her,” he said, his voice suddenly little more than a whisper.

“Come to your senses,” said the uncompromising Obi-Wan. “What do you think Padmé would do if she were in your position?”

Anakin’s shoulders slumped. “She would do her duty,” he admitted. He turned and looked back toward where Padmé had fallen, but they were now too far off, and there was too much dust.

Gunships screamed left and right, trading fire with laser cannon emplacements. On the ground, thousands of clone troopers battled the droids, and it was already becoming apparent that these new soldiers were indeed superior. One against one, a battle droid was nearly a match for a clone trooper, and a super battle droid even more than a match. But in groups and formations, the improvisation of the clone troopers, reacting to the fast-changing battleground and following the relayed orders of their Jedi commander, was quickly giving them all of the best vantage points, all the high ground and the most defensible positions.

The battle soon extended far overhead, as well, as Republic warships engaged those Trade Federation ships that had managed to get offplanet, and those that had not yet landed. Most of those Trade Federation ships inside the asteroid belt and immediately within the perimeter of the battle were troop carriers rather than battleships, and so the Republic was fast gaining the upper hand there, as well.

Over at the command center, an exhausted and dirty
Mace Windu joined Master Yoda, the two sharing looks that combined hope for the present and fear for the future.

“You decided to bring them,” Mace stated.

“Troubling, it is,” Yoda replied, his large eyes slowly blinking. “Two paths were there open, and this one alone offered the return of so many Jedi.”

Mace Windu nodded his approval of that choice, but Yoda only looked at the turmoil and destruction raging about him and blinked his large eyes once more.

Obi-Wan pushed past Anakin, moving toward the pilot. “Follow that speeder!”

The gunship did just that, zooming low. They found the speeder soon enough, parked outside a large tower. The gunship skimmed to a stop, moving a bit lower, and Anakin and Obi-Wan leapt out, rushing to the tower door. Hardly pausing, Anakin burst through, lightsaber in hand, entering a huge hangar, with cranes and control panels, tug-ships and workbenches.

They found Count Dooku inside, standing at a control panel, working some instruments. A small interstellar sail ship sat nearby, a graceful, shining craft with a circular pod set on two lander legs, the retracted sails sweeping out to narrowing points behind it, like folded wings.

“You’re going to pay for all the Jedi you killed today, Dooku!” Anakin yelled at him, moving in determinedly. Again he felt the tug of a determined Obi-Wan, holding him back.

“We move in together,” Obi-Wan explained. “You slowly on the—”

“No! I’m taking him now!” And Anakin pulled away and charged ahead.

“Anakin, no!”

Like a charging reek, the young Jedi came on, his green
lightsaber ready to cut Dooku in half. The Count looked at him out of the corner of his eye, smiling as if truly amused.

Anakin didn’t catch the cue. His rage moved him along, as it had with the Tusken Raiders.

But this was no simple warrior enemy. Dooku’s hand shot out toward the charging Jedi, sending forth a Force push as solid as any stone wall, and a burst of blue Force lightning, unknown to Jedi, charged all about the trapped and lifted Jedi Padawan.

Anakin managed to hold onto his lightsaber as he went up into the air, held there by the power of the Count. With a wave of his hand, Dooku sent Anakin flying across the room, to crash into a distant wall, where he slumped down, dazed.

“As you can see, my Jedi powers are far beyond yours,” Dooku said with complete confidence and calm.

“I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan countered, moving toward him in a more measured and defensive manner, his borrowed blue lightsaber held across his body diagonally, up over one shoulder.

Dooku smiled and ignited a red-glowing blade.

Obi-Wan stepped slowly at first, then came on in a sudden rush, his blue blade coming in hard, right to left.

But with only a slight movement, the red blade stabbed under the blue, then lifted up, and Obi-Wan’s blade went flying harmlessly high of the mark. With a slight reversal of his wrist, Dooku stabbed straight ahead, and Obi-Wan had to throw himself backward. He brought his lightsaber across as he did, trying to parry, but Dooku had already retracted his blade by then and had settled back into perfect defensive posture.

Against that posture, Obi-Wan’s sudden flurry of attacks seemed exaggerated and inefficient, for Dooku defeated each, one after another, with a slight parry or
dodge, seeming barely to move. For while Obi-Wan and most of the Jedi were sword fighters, Count Dooku was a fencer, following an older fighting style, one more effective against weapons like lightsabers than against projectile weapons like blasters. The Jedi on the whole had abandoned that old fighting style, considering it almost irrelevant against the enemies of the present galaxy, but Dooku had always held stubbornly to it, considering it among the highest of fighting disciplines.

Now, as the battle played out between the Count and Obi-Wan, the older way showed its brilliance. Obi-Wan leapt and spun, slashing side to side, chopping and thrusting, but all of Dooku’s movements seemed far more efficient. He followed a single line, front and back, his feet shifting to keep him constantly in perfect balance as he retreated and came on suddenly with devastating thrusts that had Obi-Wan stumbling backward.

“Master Kenobi, you disappoint me,” the Count taunted. “Yoda holds you in such high esteem.”

His words spurred Obi-Wan forward with another series of slashes and chops, but Dooku’s red blade angled left and then right, then up just enough to send Obi-Wan’s descending blade slipping off to the side. Obi-Wan had to retreat soon after, gasping for breath.

“Come, come, Master Kenobi,” Dooku said, his lips curled in a wicked smile. “Put me out of my misery.”

Obi-Wan steadied himself and shifted his lightsaber from hand to hand, getting a better grip on it. Then he exploded into motion, coming on again fiercely, his blue lightsaber flashing all about. He kept a better measure of his cuts this time, though, reversing his angle often, turning a wide slash into a sudden thrust, and he soon had Dooku backing, the red blade working furiously to keep Obi-Wan at bay.

Obi-Wan pressed forward more forcefully, but Dooku
continued to fend off the strikes, and then his momentum played out. He was too far forward, while Dooku remained in perfect balance, ready for a counterstrike.

And then it was Dooku suddenly pressing the attack, his red blade stabbing and retracting so quickly that most of Obi-Wan’s cutting parries hit nothing but air. Obi-Wan had to jump back, and then back again, and again, as those thrusts moved ever closer to hitting home.

Dooku stepped forward suddenly, stabbing low for Obi-Wan’s thigh. Down went the blue blade to intercept, but to Obi-Wan’s horror, Dooku retracted his weapon and thrust it right back out, up high and across the other way. Obi-Wan couldn’t get his weapon back to block, nor could he slide back fast enough.

Dooku’s red blade stabbed hard into his left shoulder, and as he lurched back, Dooku retracted the blade and stabbed along its original course, digging into Obi-Wan’s right thigh. The Jedi stumbled backward, tripping and crashing hard against the wall, but even as he fell, Dooku was there, his red blade rolling over and inside Obi-Wan’s blade, and with a sudden jerk, he sent Obi-Wan’s lightsaber bouncing across the floor.

“And so it ends,” Dooku said to the helpless Obi-Wan. With a shrug, the elegant Count lifted his red blade up high, then brought it down hard at Obi-Wan’s head.

A green blade cut in under it, stopping it with a shower of sparks.

The Count reacted immediately, backpedaling and turning to face Anakin. “That’s brave of you, boy, but foolish. I would’ve thought you’d have learned your lesson.”

“I’m a slow learner,” Anakin replied coolly, and he came on then, so suddenly, so powerfully, his green blade whirling with such speed that he seemed almost encased in green light.

For the first time, Count Dooku lost his little confident smile. He had to work furiously to keep Anakin’s blade at bay, dodging more than parrying. He tried to step out to the side, but stopped as if he had hit a wall, and his eyes widened a bit when he realized that this young Padawan, in the midst of that assault, had used the Force to block his exit.

“You have unusual powers, young Padawan,” he sincerely congratulated. His little grin returned, and gradually Dooku put himself back on even footing with Anakin, trading thrust for slash and forcing Anakin to dodge and parry as often as he tried to strike.