Test of Time Book 1: A Father's Son

Chapter 8: Dooku and Grievous

In the silence that settled between the Jedi as the elevator made its ascent to where the chancellor was being held, Anakin once again found himself studying Luke. The young man had leaned casually against the elevator with a sigh, arms crossed over his chest as once again he slipped deep into his own thoughts. Anakin had noticed Luke tended to do that, and whenever he did the man would gain a solemn, sad air about him. Even now, that kind of air was settling in all around them in the elevator.

"Are you alright, Luke?" Anakin asked him, evaluating the man as he spoke.

Luke gradually came out of his stupor. "Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking."

"You seem to do that a lot."

Luke smiled wanly. "There's a lot to think about."

"Apparently," Anakin mused.

"So we're in: do we have a plan on getting out?" Luke asked them.

"Get out," Anakin said simply.

"This entire thing is improvised, isn't it?" Luke mused.

"I told you it was," Anakin snickered. "We tend to work at our best when we improvise."

Luke smiled. "I see."

The elevator jerked before coming to a complete stand-still, and a flash of annoyance passed across Anakin's face. "Now what?"

"The elevator must have malfunctioned," Obi-Wan muttered. He taped his comm link. "R2, come in. Come in, R2. R2, the elevator stopped working and we need you to get it working again. We need to go up. R2!"

Anakin was examining the ceiling. "Well, there's more than one way out of here," he muttered. He activated his lightsaber and started to cut a hole in the ceiling. Obi-Wan and Luke were left to dodge the falling sparks while Obi-Wan continued to try and contact R2. There was a groan and the chunk of ceiling Anakin had been cutting out fell, all of them jumping out of the way before Anakin jumped through the hole. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you follow him, Luke, and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble or get himself hurt," Anakin heard Obi-Wan mumble.

Luke probably nodded. "Sure thing."

Moments later Luke also jumped through the hole, finding Anakin standing on top of the elevator and inspecting the elevator shaft. Anakin glanced at him. "Obi-Wan's got you playing babysitter, huh?"

Luke chuckled. "I thought that's what you two were doing to me."

Anakin laughed a little before looking up. "We're headed for the top, but if we make a climb it doesn't look like it's going to be a pleasant one." He glanced at Luke with a smirk. "Though when is it ever easy?"

"Tell me about it," Luke mumbled.

A warning came to Anakin through the Force, and he looked sharply at Luke. "Jump!" he commanded, and they both clung to the edge of the next level as the elevator suddenly plummeted underneath them.

Anakin looked down at the fast dropping elevator, worry for his friend etched all over his face. As they dangled from the ledge, Anakin looked around for a way back up.

As if their situation wasn't bad enough, the doors slid open above them and Anakin heard Luke groan. Several battle droids looked down on them. "There they are. Hands up Jedi!"

Anakin scowled at them; like he could really put his hands up right now. He looked back down at the elevator, which he saw was now headed back up at a rapid speed.

"Luke!" he called firmly, nodding down towards the elevator.

Luke met his eyes, obviously catching his meaning. Anakin lifted one finger from the ledge. One. Then another. Two . . .