Blue Moon

Chapter 13

"Good, Anakin, good. I knew you could do it. Kill him. Kill him now!" Palpatine said.
"Anakin, no!" Mary said.
"I shouldn't..." Anakin added.
"Do it!!" ordered Palpatine.
"Anakin, stop, don't do it!" Mary added.
Anakin cut off Count Dooku's head. A huge explosion somewhere deep in the ship rattled everything.
"... I couldn't stop myself." Anakin affirmed.
"What did you do?!" Mary said shocked.
"You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive." Palpatine said.
Anakin dropped Count Dooku's lightsaber, moving to Palpatine.
"Yes, but he was an unarmed prisoner." Anakin nodded.

Anakin raised his hands toward Palpatine, who was strapped in the Admiral's Chair.
The Chancellor's restraints popped loose.
"I shouldn't have done that, Chancellor. It's not the Jedi way." Anakin stated.
Palpatine stood up, rubbing his wrists.
"It is only natural. He cut off your arm and killed your sister, and you wanted revenge. It wasn't the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother and the Sand People. Now, we must leave before more security droids arrive." Palpatine said.
Mary looked at Palpatine with suspicion.

                                                                                  ☾☼

The ship began to list to one side. Mary rushed over to Obi-Wan, lift the control console from on top of him, and pulled him free. Anakin knelt down and checked out his unconscious friend. Palpatine headed for the elevators.
"Anakin, there is no time. We must get off the ship before it's too late."
"He seems to be all right. No broken bones, breathing's all right." Anakin stated.
"Leave him, or we'll never make it."
"We're not leaving him." Mary added.
"His fate will be the same as ours."
Anakin picked up Obi-Wan, slinged him over his shoulder, and headed for the elevators. Anakin carried Kenobi to the elevator doors and Mary hit the button. Palpatine joined them.
"The elevator's not working, (into his comlink) R2..."
R2 beeped a response to Anakin.

"Activate Elevator 3224." Anakin said.
Suddenly the ship shifted to its side as the elevator doors opened. Palpatine was thrown to the ground. Anakin and Mary jumped to the door frame of the elevator.
They looked into the elevator shaft.

"R2...do you copy? R2, come in!"

Windows were blown out, droids and equipment were sucked into space.
As the ship rolled, spacecraft and equipment crashed from one side of the ship to the other. Several objects broke through the metal blast doors, causing objects to be sucked into space. R2 started to slide toward one of the small holes.
As the elevator shaft rotated, it has become a long hallway.
Mary and Anakin clung to the doorframe with Obi-Wan on his shoulder, as the Chancellor struggled to join him.

R2 continued to skid and slid toward open space. He swerved around boxes and wrecked fighters. One of the battle droids stumbled and was consumed by the electronic shield in a zap. R2 beeped a reply as he dodged the laser blasts of the battle droids. One bolt hit very near him, and he screamed in terror.
R2 was about to be overtaken by a starfighter sliding behind him. He fell into a heap of broken battle droid parts and the fighter bounced over him.
The Trade Federation cruiser headed straight down toward the planet.
Mary and Anakin jumped into the horizontal elevator shaft with Obi-Wan still on his shoulder.

"We can't wait. Come on, we have to be fast." Anakin said.

Palpatine climbed into the elevator shaft also. They started running. The ship began to roll again, and the Jedi and the Chancellor were forced to jump from one side of the elevator to the other.
Anakin still carrying Obi-Wan on his back, and Palpatine ran down the elevator shaft as it started to move upright. Anakin cut a control box on one of the doors, but before the doors could open, the ship moved to an angle, causing Mary, Anakin and Palpatine to start sliding down the shaft. Anakin grabbed some wires in the control box with one hand. Mary clung to Obi-Wan's hand still unconscious and Palpatine grabbed onto the Jedi's leg.
As the ship righted itself, they were left hanging in the bottomless elevator shaft. The trio and Palpatine hanged precariously on the side of the bottomless elevator shaft.