where it is most needed. Thank you all."
Palpatine, at least, had learned the value of brevity and modesty,
Obi-Wan noted.
He watched as the Supreme Chancellor stepped back and entered his
personal transport. He sped off toward the Senate. The others Senators
followed. There was a debate to attend.
The Blue and Red Guards, Palpatine's personal guards, slowly guided
the vehicle to the great open doors of the vault of the Core Bank. Obi-Wan
felt a murmur go through the crowd. Dex was right. There was nothing like a
huge fortune to cause beings to swoon.
And still there was no sign of trouble. Obi-Wan saw Siri through the
crowd. She shrugged. Anakin had his gaze fixed on the vault.
Obi-Wan's comlink signaled. It was Tyro. "Anything?" Obi-Wan asked.
"That speech he's practicing... did you get to that yet? Any
impressions?"
"He needs a speechwriter."
"Yes, it's awful, but did you get the subject?"
"No, I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. It didn't make
sense."
"That's what worries me."
Obi-Wan watched the Guards move into the building. "So what's your
point?"
"Well, what's his point, that's the question. Obi-Wan, this may be
off-base, but..."
Obi-Wan noticed that one of the Blue Guards had a torn hem. Unusual
for these guards. They took their position as personal guards to Palpatine
seriously.
Torn hem. Blue thread.
"Later, Tyro." Obi-Wan snapped his comlink shut and vaulted through
the crowd. Anakin caught his movement.
"The guards!" he bellowed.
And then they were all moving - Anakin, Siri, Ferus, as the durasteel
doors began to slide shut on the vault.
Obi-Wan leaped. He slammed against the vault door, then squeezed
himself inside, nearly leaving his foot behind as the door clanged shut.
Anakin was above him, timing his own leap to slither through the doors as
they closed.
Obi-Wan landed on the floor and tackled the Blue Guard in front of
him. The helmet was knocked off, and he looked into the face of Roper Slam.
"Not you again!" Slam groaned.
Anakin tackled the next guard. It was Slam's sidekick, Valadon.
"This was supposed to be easy!" Slam yelped.
Valadon struggled to release herself from Anakin's grip. "What
happened to that Zone? We weren't supposed to meet any resistance!"
"We've been double-crossed," Slam said. He didn't struggle with Obi-
Wan. He sat cross-legged on the floor, then tried to rip off the robe in
angry frustration.
Siri and Ferus ran in through the interior door of the vault, followed
by anxious-looking officials and part of the security force.
"It's all right," Obi-Wan said. "You can take them into custody."
"There wasn't even an attempt to hit the water system," Siri said.
"You see? Double-crossed," Slam said, slumping down.
"Another two minutes and we would have been out of here with the
vertex," Valadon said.
"Everything depends on minutes, Val," Slam said. "We live and die on
minutes."
Minutes, Obi-Wan thought.
Bog is going to be six minutes late for the debate.
To make himself more important? Or was there another reason?
Now only one of us can lead us through the valley of fear to the
mountaintop of solidarity..
It doesn't make sense. That's what worries me...
The truth blazed a path inside his brain. Bog was practicing a
nominating speech. A speech he would deliver sometime today.
The heist was yet another diversion.
The nominating speech was for Sano Sauro to take over as Supreme
Chancellor.
The real mission was to assassinate Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Anakin's head whipped around. One moment Obi-Wan was there, standing
over Roper Slam, and the next, he was gone.
Anakin whirled and charged out the door of the vault, into the Core
Bank building itself. He was just in time to see his Master racing out the
front door.
Anakin put on a burst of speed. Obi-Wan was doing three things at
once. He leaped over four chatting security officers straight onto an
unattended swoop, even while he slipped his comlink out of his belt and
spoke rapidly into it. At the same time, he started the swoop engine.
Anakin jumped onto an empty swoop and revved the engine, lifting into
the sky just as a security officer yelled, "Hey!"
Within seconds, he had caught up to his Master.
"What's up?" Anakin asked easily, even though they were going the
wrong way down a space lane.
Obi-Wan went into a screeching dive to avoid a crowded airbus. When
Anakin caught up, he said, "I think Omega's real goal is to use the Zone at
the Senate and assassinate Palpatine. I've already tried to call Senate
security, but I can't get through. All of security is caught up in the
ceremony."
"Which is probably what he's counting on. We'd better hurry, then."
Anakin pushed the speed on his swoop. Obi-Wan did the same.
They looped, dove, and flew flat-out, dipping out of the space lane to
do some highly illegal flying over the pedestrian walkways leading to the
Senate. Obi-Wan leaped off the swoop as it was still flying and held out a
hand, using the Force to guide it to a safe stop. Anakin followed.
They ran into the Senate building, past the enormous statues. As he
ran, Obi-Wan contacted Siri and told her what he suspected. ,
"I'll contact Master Windu and head to the Senate. We'll need backup.
The head of security is here, I'll talk to him."
"Do what you can." Obi-Wan shoved his comlink into his belt.
"How do you think they'll do it?" Anakin asked as they ran along the
elevated walkway leading to Palpatine's private office.
"They'll use the Zone to impair the opposition Senators. They will
have figured out a way to target them somehow, maybe by inviting them to
the meeting first. That's why Bog is going to be late. Then they'll call
for a vote and oust the Jedi Order. In the meantime, they'll assassinate
Palpatine."
"So they will have eliminated Jedi interference and Palpatine in one
day," Anakin said.
"And Sano Sauro will be Supreme Chancellor."
They raced into Palpatine's outer office. Sly Moore gazed at them
forbiddingly, her pale eyes showing her disapproval. "Not another emergency
meeting. The Supreme Chancellor is busy."
"This is life or death," Obi-Wan told her.
She hesitated a fraction of an instant. "He has already gone to the
Jedi vote in the Senate. He took the South Corridor!" she shouted after
them as they ran.
They raced down the hallways. They couldn't be too late. They couldn't
let Omega win.
Ahead they saw Palpatine walking. Obi-Wan skidded up to him and pushed
him into an empty meeting room. When he touched his arm, he was shocked at
how thin the Supreme Chancellor was. Yet his arm was like a braiding of
durasteel, ropy and strong. Something clanged along Obi-Wan's nerves, some
feeling, some instinct that made h
im want to recoil. He felt dread well up
in him, and he wondered if he was too late, after all. Perhaps there was
something he had not seen. Was he missing something? Obi-Wan felt suddenly
confused.
"Master Kenobi, what is it?" Palpatine asked. He had moved his arm
away quickly and was now adjusting the high collar on his cloak.
"An assassination plot against you, Supreme Chancellor," Obi-Wan said.
"Granta Omega is behind it. I am sure of it. Sano Sauro would be nominated
by Bog Divinian as your successor."
Palpatine thought this over. A small smile crossed his thin, bloodless
lips. "Of course. That would be the inevitable next step."
"You don't seem very concerned about your potential assassination,"
Anakin said.
Palpatine waved a hand. "My personal safety ceased to be an issue the
moment I took on this position."
An odd thing to say, Obi-Wan thought, for a man who had developed his
own security force, the Red Guard, whose masked members used force pikes as
weapons.
"I'll order a lockdown," Palpatine said. "That means every door will
open only with a retinal scan."
"Omega and Zan Arbor are probably already in the building," Obi-Wan
said. "My guess is that Teda got them past security."
"I have monitors on the water system," Palpatine said. "There are no
reports of sabotage."
"I advise you to shut down the entire system," Obi-Wan said. "We can't
take a chance."
Palpatine hesitated. Then he got out his comlink, notified Mas Amedda,
and gave the order.
"And now I will go to the assembly," he said.
"But Supreme Chancellor, you can't," Obi-Wan argued.
"But Master Kenobi, I must," Palpatine said softly. For the first time
in his acquaintance with the Supreme Chancellor, Anakin sensed something
underneath his composure - just a hint of anger, striking as fast as a
serpent, and then gone.
A red light began to glow on Palpatine's comlink.
"The most serious alert," he murmured, and accessed it. He listened
for a moment, then shut it down.
"It could be nothing. A valve in a water tunnel won't function. They
wouldn't have noticed it, but when they shut down the water system, the
valve came up as non-functioning."
"Where?"
Palpatine gave him the coordinates, and Obi-Wan turned to Anakin.
"Stay with the Chancellor."
"But Master - "
"Anakin, stay! Don't leave him!" Obi-Wan's order floated back to
Anakin as his Master ran off.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Stay.
Obi-Wan was off to face Granta Omega, and Anakin was now just a
bodyguard.
Palpatine's pale gaze studied him.
"You can go."
"I can't disobey my Master. I can't leave you alone." "If I call my
Red Guard they can be here in three minutes. Less."
"It would not matter," Anakin said miserably. "Obi-Wan told me to
stay."
"Well, let us walk, then. I am scheduled to preside over the vote on
Senator Divinian's proposal."
"But my Master told you not to go."
"True. But unlike you, I do not have to obey an order of caution."
Caution. Obi-Wan's caution drove Anakin crazy.
"The work of the Senate goes on," Palpatine continued as they began to
walk. "To keep going on, no matter what the obstacles - that is what a
leader must do. I have learned, Anakin, over the course of my political
career, one important thing: I cannot let anyone get in the way of my
service. In the beginning, I doubted myself. Who am I, I asked myself, to
decide fates, to make rulings? Then the answer came to me. I must do it
because there is no one else who can do it better." Palpatine chuckled.
"Oh, I'm not saying I'm keeping the Republic together single-handedly. But
fate has thrust me into this position - and I would be untrue to myself as
well as the galaxy if I did not utilize everything I have and everything I
am in order to succeed at it."
Palpatine's serenity was almost eerie. It was as though, Anakin
thought suddenly, Palpatine was above this, looking down. As though
criminals like Granta Omega were merely toys to be observed. Where did he
get that confidence? Anakin was reaching out blindly, trying to probe the
Supreme Chancellor, but his powers were not that developed. He kept meeting
a wall.
"What I wish," Palpatine said, "is that you will realize this one day,
too. That it is right to use every means at your disposal. I'm sure your
Master would agree."
Anakin had his doubts. He saw Siri and Ferus pounding down the
hallway.
"Ah," Palpatine said. "Reinforcements."
Siri halted in front of them. "Where is Obi-Wan?" "There was a
security breach and he went to check it out," Anakin explained.
"Coordinates," Siri rapped out.
Anakin gave them to her, and she turned to Ferus. "Stay here with the
Supreme Chancellor. I'll contact you if you're needed."
Ferus nodded. He did not seem to have the same conflict about the
order that Anakin did. Siri raced down the hall.
"You go, too, Anakin," Palpatine urged him. "One Jedi is enough
protection."
Anakin hesitated. He would be disobeying a direct order from Obi-Wan.
But Obi-Wan had given the order before Ferus had shown up. And even though
Palpatine had dismissed the idea that the water valve malfunction could be
a security breach, Anakin felt in his bones that it was Omega, just as Obi-
Wan had.
"If it is Omega, he is too dangerous an opponent to allow to escape,"
Palpatine said. "The future of the Senate is at stake."
Ferus said nothing. His dark eyes moved from Palpatine to Anakin. He
knew that whatever he said, Anakin would not take it into consideration.
Anakin made his decision. He turned to Ferus. "I have to go. Don't
leave his side."
He didn't have time to wonder if Ferus was annoyed that he had given a
fellow Padawan an order. He felt the urgency of his mission. Everything in
him pointed the way to a showdown with Omega. And it was just as Palpatine
had said: Only he knew what he was capable of. Only he knew the right thing
to do.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Obi-Wan splashed through the water tunnel. There were only a few
centimeters of water on the bottom, but the tunnel was sweating water, and
it dripped steadily on his head and down his neck. He had examined the
valve that caused the malfunction alarm, and he was almost certain it had
been caused by a blow, probably from a tool. There was a deep, fresh
scratch on the valve, and part of the edge of it was bashed in, lying flush
against the tunnel itself, making it impossible to open it. Had Omega and
Zan Arbor attempted to open the valve and failed? Was the damage a result
of frustration, or miscalculation?
It didn't matter. What mattered was that they were here.
The sound of dripping water magnified in his ears until the soft
plinks sounded like loud clangs. There were so many branches of the tunnel
that he wasn't even sure where the main tunnel ran. He wasn't lost, exactly
- not yet - but he wasn't terribly comfortable with his sense of direction
at this point. Obi-Wan splashed down another quarter-kilometer. He had to
go slowly, for fear of making too much noise, but at this rate, he'd never
find them. The Senate complex was as large as a mid-sized city on some
planets. If Omega and Zan Arbor decided to hide, it could take some time
before he could find them.
Obi-Wan's comlink signaled, and he grabbed it. It was Tyro. The
reception was poor, and the corn line crackled.
"Obi-Wan, I must meet with you. Where are you?"
"In the water tunnels. Tyro, I don't have time - "
"Listen to me. I've dug back, looking for links. And I stumbled on
something. Something... much more... terrible."
Even through the poor connection, Obi-Wan heard the fear in Tyro's
voice. "I know about the assassination plot on Palpatine," Obi-Wan told his