The ship changed directions and what was once the floor became the wall. Skywalker, the chancellor, and the padawan began to run along through the elevator shaft.

Grim maneuvered herself between the two men, which wasn't hard.

Even while carrying their master, Skywalker sped ahead.

Being forced to play the role of an elderly and frightened defenseless chancellor, Palpatine lagged behind.

Leaving Grim to keep a steady pace to be in the middle of the two adults.

The pieces of her plan were falling into place.

If Grim got Palpatine to fall directly behind her instead of Anakin she would be able to kick him down to the bottom of the shaft. Killing him when he hit the ground - and if not then when an elevator passed.

It was easy to make it look like an accident. A perfect cover to the act, with all the chaos of this mission.

Sure with Palpatine dead the Republic would quickly become unstable, but with Dooku already dead both sides would be left without a leader.

  In the roaring chaos it could perhaps be possible to negotiate peace.

With the Sith defeated, victory would surely be in sight.

Suddenly the elevator shaft was no longer a hallway and they began to fall.

This was the moment of truth, if everything played into her hands then she would win the Clone War.

Win the game of chess.

Her reflexes betrayed her.

She grabbed onto a piece of metal sticking out, Skywalker having missed. Suddenly she was the one in the lead, Skywalker having grabbed onto one of her boots, and Palpatine holding onto him.

  She muttered a few curse words as she realized her plan had not been as calculated as she had thought.

  Grim knew it had been a gamble - but here at the end everything was a gamble.

Underneath her Obi-Wan groaned, indicating he had woken up. "Did I miss something?" he asked.

Grim risked a look down to give a comedic response, to edge away her own anger at the failure of her plan. "Just Skywalker commiting a war crime...again."

"Oh?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Grim is just joking," replied Anakin defensively. He couldn't get in trouble for killing Dooku while unarmed.

Obi-Wan looked up. "What is that?"

"Oh, oops," said Anakin as he realized the elevator was heading towards them.

Grim pulled out her comlink. "Artoo shut down the elevator!"

  "Too late! Jump!" said Obi-Wan.

They all jumped and as they began to fall in the elevator shaft the three Jedi grabbed their grapple cables and used them to get through an open elevator door. Anakin carrying Palpatine. The four landed ungracefully on stable ground. All of them stood up, but only Grim took the time to dust herself off.

"Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable," said Obi-Wan.

Anakin pulled out his comlink. "Artoo, get down here. Artoo do you copy?"

There was a whistle followed by beeping, and Grim cursed herself for still not understanding the damned droid three years later.

They began to run through the hallways to reach the hangar bay, Grim was behind the three men, knowing what was coming. "Boys wait this is going to be a trap! There are-"

"Ray shields," finished Anakin as the four of them got caught in one.

"Wait a minute, how did this happen? We're smarter than this," said Obi-Wan.

"Apparently not," replied Anakin.

"I am," replied Grim, rolling her eyes. "I was trying to warn y'all. Would it be a bad time to say I told you so?"

Everyone looked at Grim.

  The looks from Obi-Wan and Anakin were ones she was used to, whenever she made a joke at the wrong moment.

  When she saw Palpatine's face she had to stop herself from laughing.

She found it almost fun to annoy the disguised Sith Lord when he couldn't do anything about it. Sure he could get revenge after the mission if he was petty enough, but Grim thought it was a safe enough bet.

After all, after the mission he would be working on destroying the entire Jedi Order.

"Yes, Grim, it would be a bad time to say I told you so," Obi-Wan replied at last.

"I say patience," said Anakin.

"Patience?" Obi-Wan asked him.

"Now that's a rare thought coming from Skywalker," joked Grim.

Anakin gave Grim an annoyed look that made the padawan chuckle. He looked back at Obi-Wan, "Yes. Artoo will be along in a few moments, and then... he'll release the ray shields."

Just then, a door opened and Artoo came in screaming hitting the wall at the other end of the hallway.

"See? No problem."

Droids filled the hallway surrounding them.

"You're right. No problem," remarked Grim, sarcastically.

"Do you happen to have a plan 'B'?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin.

Anakin rolled his eyes. Grim laughed.

  The four were cuffed and escorted straight to General Grievous himself. The droids confiscated the lightsabers of the three Jedi.

"Ah, yes, the negotiator," Grievous said when his eyes fell upon Obi-Wan. "General Kenobi, we've been waiting for you. That wasn't much of a rescue."

Grim rolled her eyes.

Grievous turned his attention onto Anakin, ignoring the young padawan. "And-" he coughed. "Anakin Skywalker." He walked over to him. "I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little...older."

"General Grievous. You're shorter than I expected," retorted Anakin.

Grim looked between Anakin and Grievous. Gawking at the other Jedi. "He's extremely tall?"

Anakin looked at Grim and gave her a one shoulder shrug, "of course you'd think that, Tiny. You're short."

"I am not!"

"Can we not start this right now?" sighed Obi-Wan. More mildly annoyed than anything.

Grievous coughed. "Jedi scum."

"We have a job to do. Try not to upset him," Obi-Wan told his two padawans.

"Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection," Grievous told the three Jedi, tucking the weapons away into his cape.

"Not this time," replied Obi-Wan. "And this time you won't escape."

"He will escape," whispered Grim, so nobody could hear.

"Artoo!" Anakin cried.

Artoo began to spin and poured a smoke screen,taking the battle droids by surprise.

Obi-Wan used the chance to use the Force and grab his lightsaber, freeing himself, then Anakin and Grim.

  The other two Jedi used the Force to grab their lightsabers and ignited the blades as one.

"Crush them!" Grievous ordered his bodyguards. "Make them suffer!"

Obi-Wan advanced towards the bodyguard droids while Anakin took out the other battle droids. Grim went to assist Obi-Wan. "I've got this, you protect the Chancellor," he told her.

Grim sighed but decided now was not the time to argue. "Why do I have to be the one to protect Palpabitch?" she grumbled under her breath so nobody heard. She destroyed the droids that were taking the chancellor hostage.

Both Anakin and Obi-Wan were fighting the bodyguards now. Leaving Grim to protect the Chancellor on her own. "If it weren't for Skywalker and Kenobi..." she muttered.

Palpatine heard her, and chuckled darkly, startling the padawan. Her eyes widened with fear and she looked back to see him smiling at her. She wanted to murder him right there. She knew she should, but she had killed her perfect cover.

"I'll take it the feeling is mutual?" Grim asked him under her breath.

"Most certainly," he replied just as quietly.

"That's one thing we can agree on."

"The only thing."

"You sure? Because I agree with that too." She smirked. She moved behind him and freed him from his cuffs. "Only so Skywalker doesn't comment on it again."

"Oh I know. I can feel the anger flowing through you."

"The hate and the fear too? Oh no what am I going to do? A Sith Lord is commenting on my emotional state," remarked Grim sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

Suddenly they were nearly being sucked through the window of the ship as Grievous broke through to escape. Doors closed, sealing them inside. The four began to gasp for air.

Droids began to make a break for it as the three Jedi had to hurry to cut them down to escape, although they were unable to stop them all.

"All the escape pods have been launched," Anakin informed the other two Jedi.

"Grievous," replied Obi-Wan.

"Looks like he did escape after all...again," said Grim.

Obi-Wan looked at Anakin, "do you know how to fly a cruiser like this?"

"You mean, do I know how to land what's left of this thing?" Anakin asked.

"Well?" He asked as the four of them got seated.

Grim was unfortunately seated next to Palpatine and had to resist the very tempting urge to push him out of his seat.

"Well, under the circumstances, I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant. Strap yourselves in," Anakin replied.

They all followed Anakin's directions. Grim resisted the temptation to push Palpatine one final time. She didn't have a cover. She had no more cover.

She only had hope.

Her plan had failed.

"Open all hatches. Extend all flaps and drag fins," Anakin told Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan did just that.

There was the creaking and tearing of metal. Grim hated the sensation as they were pulled forwards and downwards into Coruscant even faster.

"We lost something," said Anakin.

"Not to worry. We are still flying half a ship," replied Obi-Wan.

"Yeah, no offense Master, BUT I'M STILL GOING TO WORRY! " shouted Grim. Despite knowing everything would be okay, the panic of the moment still got to her.

"Now we're really picking up speed," said Anakin. "We're in the atmosphere. Grab that keep us level," Anakin told Obi-Wan pointing to what he was talking about.

As they descended into Coruscant Grim grabbed onto her seat and tried to calm the panic sinking into her mind. She reminded herself that she had seen this before and for now everything was okay. This crash wasn't what she had to worry about.

The padawan also reminded herself that she had been in plenty of crashes with Anakin and Obi-Wan before and mostly they ended up alright.

She shut her eyes and began to mentally recite the Jedi Code.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

"Steady," said Obi-Wan.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

Artoo beeped.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

"Easy Artoo," said Anakin.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

"5000, fire ships on the left and right," Obi-Wan informed Anakin.

There is no death, there is the Force.

  "We'll take you in," a pilot informed them.

Grim repeated the mantra.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

"Copy that," acknowledged Obi-Wan.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

"Landing strip, straight ahead!" Obi-Wan informed Anakin.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

"We're coming in too hot!" replied Anakin.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

The ship crashed. Grim's eyes shot open as everyone was flown forwards a little, but kept in their seats because of the seatbelts. Grim let out a sigh of relief.

"Another happy landing," said Obi-Wan, smiling.

  Grim smiled too.

There is no death, there is the Force.