All of this flashes by in one sliver of a second. I might be constrained by the need to stay close enough to the wall the sniper occupying an unknown vantage won't be able to intervene, but now that I've fought my way back to detachment, I know it will be a simple matter to reflect the killers' blaster-bolts back at their weapons.
I'm prepared to do just that at this point, but after focusing so completely on preparing my response, I end up surprised by what actually happens.
It takes a moment after everything grows momentarily still, for me to even realize I hadn't actually seen anything at all in my Third Sight. Not since the warning which had saved Padme's life. It's a revelation which leaves me feeling even colder, as the overarching implications of my struggle with the fury which tried to consume me attempts to pull my attention from the tableau right in front of us.
The corporal had gone down after only getting a couple of shots off with his rifle. Neither of which came nowhere near hitting anyone, because he'd been hit by a blaster-bolt square between the shoulder blades as he opened fire.
His partner in crime had begun to wheel after seeing his accomplice go down, but a second blaster-bolt had taken him just beneath his left arm. Sending him to the ground with a single spasmodic twitch of the limb whose hand had been on the rifle's stock.
The third guardsman stood shaking perhaps ten meters away. Already having dropped the blaster used to gun down the traitors. Now, he fell forward onto his knees.
Every portion of his body seized by convulsions as sudden as they were wild. With my Third Sight entirely fogged out, and a sniper capable of two head-shots in rapid succession occupying an unknown vantage, I force myself to resist the urge to rush out, grab, and carry the stricken man back to our position hard against the wall separating the landing complex from the speeder annex.
It's obvious the sniper had been given more than ample opportunity to silence the seizing man forever, so it's equally apparent the soldier is being used as bait. I'm certain of this, because it's exactly what I would do, had I chosen to sell my soul for credits.
There was a great deal more to what was going on, as the horrifyingly belated realization that this was all the work of a Dark Side adept far more accomplished than I'd ever believed continues to wash over me, but I shove such thoughts from my mind for now.
Reaching out suddenly with the Force, I suddenly push rather than pull the guardsman's thrashing form. Hoping to throw off a shooter who almost certainly has their cross-hairs occupying a spot fifty centimeters to the right of the soldier's present position.
A bullet tears a hand-sized pockmark in the black duracrete of the tarmac just behind the sliding body, as I yank the tumbling form into a sudden lateral skid our way. With only maybe five meters until the sniper's latest would-be victim slips into the shadow of the wall and safety, I allow myself to hope I'd win this macabre race.
The hole appears in the back of the guardsman's armor high on the right side without warning. Followed a split-second later by a second hit maybe five centimeters lower. Making of the gaping holes one hideously contiguous wound that announces the inevitability of my failure to save a good man's life.
There's no way for me to know what I suddenly do, but this doesn't shake my certainty in the content of a message being sent me in an innocent man's blood. Now, dropping to my knees beside the soldier vomiting blood in what are certainly his final moments, it's as if I can hear the killer's voice. "That's for spoiling my first shots, Jedi."
Pulling the man's helmet off with hands which still want to curl into fists, I push my anger into the Force, then place my palms against the guardsman's temples and lock eyes with him.
"There is no pain. There is no fear. There is only peace, guardsman." Bringing every iota of my will to bear in drowning his natural panic, I do my best to calm whatever mental chaos has been inflicted on him by the dark side adept.
I would have liked to pluck his name from his thoughts, so I could address the private with greater familiarity in his last moments, but the pall of the dark side still suffuses him. It's everything I can do under the circumstances to create a semblance of peace and painlessness even for what little time he has left.
It seems reasonable the sudden absence of panic and pain would allow the dying man to calm, but I'm surprised to feel the rise of another determined surge in his mind.
The guard's left hand lashes out and catches my right wrist in a bruising grip, before he turns his head aside, then spits out a great deal of bright blood with surprising strength.
Craning his head back in my direction to lock eyes with me before a new gout of blood can choke him anew, the courageous guard successfully chokes out in ragged, uneven gasps "Anzat, Li... sabers. Changeling, real."
The hand on my wrist tightens even further. The gray eyes set in blood-covered features belonging to a man in his early twenties boring into my own. Desperately seeking confirmation that he's managed to pass on the information he's so intent on communicating.
Leaning in very close, I nod sharply several times. Letting this brave and fiercely committed young man see that I've heard his warning.
It doesn't seem like there's time to get Padme over here so he could see for himself he hasn't died in vain, so I bend down even closer, and speak directly into his ear "Senator Amidala is alive, thanks to you, guardsman. She'll be protected, and those responsible for this will be brought to justice, I promise you. You can rest now."
Hearing footsteps behind me, and seeing the dying young man's weak blood drenched smile, I realize I was mistaken. Padme's moved to where he could gaze up at her. but as I hear her draw breath to say something to him, the light behind those intense gray eyes finally fades. His head lolls limply to the right, as one final choking gasp escapes his lips.
Gently closing eyes which had grown sightless with my right hand, I climb to my feet, then glance ahead at the guard-booth which had been commandeered by Captain Typho as the shooting began.
I'd seen him preparing to open fire on the suborned guards, prior to the private's intervention. Now, the faint, rapidly repeating eee-on, eee-on of C.S.F klaxons are growing progressively louder as the various units approach.
I glimpse a pair of P.C.B.U's racing along behind the swarm of faster police units converging on the area from multiple directions. The swiftly flashing red and blue lights lining these airspeeders, as well as all the other units prompting a sense of relief. The bulk of my attention returns to our immediate area, as I keep up my watch until I know for certain the danger is past.
Not that I truly believe there will be another attempt on Padme's life right now. Between my slowly clearing Third Sight giving me clues as to how the approaching police-units were going to establish their cordon around this location, and the renewed clarity of the Force Sense which detects the fast approaching Force-presence of Master Jinn, there's good reason to believe the one responsible for drawing the dark side's veil over this place has already withdrawn.
The chill I'd gotten after realizing I'd been influenced to forget the likelihood of all three Senate Guards being victims of Force Compulsion, and this despite the fact that very suspicion had been uppermost in my thoughts only moments prior to the attempt on Padme's life, persists.
According to my former Master, my mental shielding against such influences was equal to that of many Jedi Masters by this point. Meaning whoever this Anzat with the lightsabers turns out to be, they're a frighteningly practiced Dark Jedi.
Their demonstrated capacity for twisting the thoughts and feelings of others makes them formidable enough, but they also seem to possess a comprehensive capacity for Force Stealth they were able to extend to their Clawdite accomplice.
Otherwise, I'm confident I would have sensed the confrontation with the three guards was simply a diversion from the real assassination attempt.
Padme's voice pulls me from my grim musings concerning this latest brush with the dark side. "You did everything you could to save him, Anakin, and you gave him peace in his final moments." Her voice is sympathetic as she watches me try to shake off the anger still clinging to me like droplets of tar, but I can feel how shaken she is by what just happened.
Before I can frame a reply, or even ask if she's all right, I feel Qui Gon's Force-presence. Striding up to us through the entryway connecting the landing complex and speeder annex, his face is grim as death, as he immediately insisted.
"Take the airspeeder I left in the nearest of the northern spaces and get out of here, Anakin. I don't understand how it's happened, but this place has grown so thick with the dark side it may have to be quarantined to prevent violence until the effect subsides.
You need to get beyond the boundaries of this contamination as soon as possible though. C.S.F isn't going to allow anymore civilian vehicles into the cordon they've established until their search is complete, but I've arranged for the Senator and I to catch a ride with one of their units headed for the S.G.H. We'll leave as soon as you do."
There was a great deal more I wanted to say to Padme, but one look at the Jedi Master's face showed me he wasn't going to budge. Worse, I knew he was only speaking from a place of concern, and more than that, he was right. Looking at the dark-haired beauty for a long moment, I pushed my concern, affection, and relief along the Bond.
I wanted to heal the small cut on her head with my extremely meager talent for healing, but I was honestly afraid to touch her with the Force in this choking miasma of death and hatred. Finally, I simply bowed deeply to them both, then replied "I will carry your request for protection to the High Council, Senator. After I explain what happened here, I'm sure the Council will assent."
Warmth, caring and concern flowed into my awareness from the dark-eyed, dark-haired beauty, before she answered with warm consideration.
"This is three times now you've saved my life, Jedi Skywalker. You have my sincere thanks, gratitude, and complete confidence in your concern for my safety. Now, please do as Master Jinn requests. It would bother me more than a little, if you came to harm on my account after everything you've done."
"You might also want to change before facing the Council, Anakin" Qui Gon added after a moment. Eyeing the copious amounts of blood covering my leggings and spattering my tunic with an inscrutable, but not unkindly expression.
There was nothing more to say to that, so I simply nodded, bowed once more, then started off.
The Council could punish me later, if they liked, but I had bigger fish to fry with them right now.
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A/N: I was experimenting with tenses, but I don't think it turned out so well. Sorry we still didn't get to the Council meeting, but this was the Chapter I seemed to have a need to write. Sorry if the clinging to present tense fucked it up. Feedback extremely welcome.
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