A/N: So this is my first Star Wars fic! I've gotten very excited about this and have lots planned for it so I hope you enjoy. This story is a Revenge of the Sith AU, as I said in the summary, and will roughly follow the progress of the movie diverging from the canon story more and more as it progresses, but I wanted to start it here.

Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of long Author's Notes, so enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Outer-Rim Under Siege

The small droid wove its way between falling rocks and underbrush, beeping solemnly. It's blue-and-silver dome spun as it simultaneously scanned the area for incoming danger, the easiest and most direct path to its destination, and potential life signs.

The ground rocked as the droid crested a hill, nearly causing it to topple over, and the sight that met its artificial eyes gave it pause.

The planet Tsiphonosi, located in the Erinyeoss system of the Outer Rim, was mostly grass plains this far from the equator, though if the droid scanned the surrounding areas for civilisation on any other day, it would have found that the nearest settlement was only twenty standard kilometers away - something that did not bode well for the battle currently raging below. Today, however, it had more pressing matters on its mechanical mind.

The army of the Galactic Republic, a mass of white-armored clones, clashed violently with the battle droids of the Confederacy of Independant Systems, flashes from blasters and heavier artillery pounding steadily on both sides. In the midst of the fray, the droid finally spotted what it was looking for; two long blades of blue light, darting between battle droids, cutting down everything in their path and deflecting incoming blaster shots.

Setting off again, the droid moved calmly down the grassy hill in the direction of the battle, beeping lowly. In the midst of battle, the humanoid Confederacy droids barely noticed the little astromech as it steadily approached its destination. Still, it took nearly half an hour for it to get where it wanted to go. When it got there, it beeped with something that could have been indignance, if it was capable of feeling such a thing, at its reception.

'R2? What are you doing here?' Anakin Skywalker demanded, blue lightsaber cutting through three battle droids at once. R2D2 beeped urgently. The Jedi pursed his lips, turning his deflective move into an attack at the nearest battle droid. 'Sorry, R2, but I'm a little busy!'

'Anakin, hurry up!' the other Jedi, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi called from a few meters to Anakin's right.

'Sorry, Master,' Anakin grumbled and raced to catch up, R2D2 following faithfully behind.

'So much for a "reconnaissance mission"!' Obi-Wan yelled over the roar of battle as Anakin and R2 caught up.

'Well, you know me, Master!' Anakin shouted back, a grin spreading across his face despite the situation. 'Never one to miss a fight!'

'Yesterday you couldn't wait to go home!'

'Still can't, Master,' Anakin retorted, deflecting a blaster shot so it rebounded and took out the droid who'd shot at him. 'But duty calls!'

R2D2 beeped again, but it had to repeat itself a few times before it caught Obi-Wan's attention.

'What is it?' the Jedi Master asked the droid in much the same fashion as his former padawan just minutes earlier.

R2 beeped again.

'What's that?' Obi-Wan glanced up at Anakin. 'What does it mean?'

'I'll tell you in a minute!' Anakin grunted, beheading one battle droid and slicing the arms off another within the same fluid movement. 'But I suggest we find somewhere we're less likely to get shot at first!'

The Jedi and the droid began making their way slowly towards the edge of the battlefield, cutting a path away from the fighting towards their hidden starfighters.

Once out of immediate danger, Anakin and Obi-Wan turned to R2.

'He's carrying a message,' Anakin said once R2 had beeped an explanation.

'Well?' Obi-Wan asked the droid with an impatient wave of his hand. 'Play it.'

Anakin sent him a sharp look made less effective by his smirk, but was distracted when R2 did as it was told.

A blue hologram emitted from the protruding lens and the figure of an imposing-looking Jedi Master suddenly stood beside them.

'Master Kenobi,' said Mace Windu. 'It is imperative that this message find you immediately. Coruscant is under attack. The Chancellor has been kidnapped and you have been requested to lead the mission in retrieving him. A Separatist fleet is attempting to leave Coruscant airspace as we speak, and local battalions are preparing to engage them. Force willing, that will slow their escape enough you can complete your mission as soon as you reach Coruscant. I am sending two of our own to relieve yourself and Skywalker of your positions as generals of your legions, but you should not delay. May the Force be with you.'

Mace Windu flickered and then vanished, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan staring at the space he had just taken up. Within moments, Anakin was opening the cockpit to his own starfighter and gesturing for R2D2 to come aboard.

'Come on, R2! Master! If we leave now and we make the hyperspace jump once we leave the system, we could reach Coruscant in an hour. We're not that far into the Outer Rim.'

Obi-Wan nodded, boarding his own ship and together the two took off.

As they exited the atmosphere, Anakin activated the commlink between himself and Obi-Wan.

'So what is the plan, Master?' he asked.

Obi-Wan's disgruntled voice reached his ears almost immediately. 'Ask me again once we've survived the blockade!'

Anakin suppressed a chuckle and executed an evasive maneuver to avoid being shot to pieces by the Separatist blockade surrounding the small but strategically valuable green planet.

'Sorry, Master!' he said, firing at one of the smaller enemy ships.

'For goodness sake, Anakin!' Obi-Wan cried. 'Don't try and take on a ship that size, you'll just piss them off!' Anakin flipped his ship ninety degrees to avoid answering fire. 'Do you want to get blown to pieces?'

'Where are all our guys?' Anakin wondered. He knew for a fact that not all of the Republic's presence around Tsiphonosi was on the ground.

As if he had summoned them with the Force, a Galactic Republic star destroyer came into view, blasting the Confederacy ship to rubble and creating a hole big enough for Anakin and Obi-Wan to slip through without further harm.

'So, Master,' Anakin began again as casually as if they had been out for a stroll. 'What's the plan?'

The battle was already raging when Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived. Galactic star destroyers and confederacy ships clashing in a thicket of red and green light as smaller starfighters ducked and wove through the crossfire.

As soon as they arrived, Obi-Wan contacted the clone commander. 'Odd Ball, this is General Kenobi, what's the situation?'

'General Kenobi, the Chancellor has been taken to the flagship Invisible Hand, we believe General Grievous is on board. General Shaak Ti has already boarded but we lost contact with her.'

'How did she manage that?' Obi-Wan asked in surprise.

'We don't know,' Odd Ball admitted. 'But she may have stowed away on the ship with the Chancellor.'

'Was she alone?' Anakin asked.

'We believe so, General Skywalker.'

'Where is Grievous' ship?' Obi-Wan asked as he and Anakin dived over a Republic star destroyer and dodged a spray of fire from a nearby Separatist starship. As Commander Odd Ball gave Obi-Wan the approximate location, the Jedi Master blasted a broken-off section of Separatist ship blocking their path until it exploded in a ball of gas and he and Anakin flew straight through.

'What was that about firing at ships that size, Master?' Anakin asked with a smirk as they emerged on the other side.

'This is no time for games, Anakin,' Obi-Wan retorted. 'Have we got eyes on Grievous' ship yet?'

The two Jedi had to swerve out of the way as a Republic star destroyer shot at a Separatist frigate. The resulting explosion sent a shower of deadly red sparks in every direction. Anakin's expression turned serious as he spotted the ship they were looking for.

'Lock onto him, R2,' he said. 'Master, General Grievous's ship is directly ahead.'

'Oh, I see it. This is going to be easy.' They were making good progress towards Grievous's ship now, as Obi-Wan called Odd Ball and his squadron of fighter pilots to cover their tails.

Anakin grinned, unable to stay serious for too long with the adrenaline surging through his body. Flying always seemed to have that effect on him. 'This is where the fun begins.'

By the time they reached the Invisible Hand, the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. The immediacy of the danger had distracted Anakin from the seriousness of the mission, too focused on getting on board Grievous's ship to worry about what had happened when they actually got there. Now, however, the hangar bay of the Separatist flagship was approaching fast.

'The General's command ship is dead ahead,' Anakin said, thinking ahead to the very different type of fight that would await them when they landed.

'Well have you noticed the shields are still up?' Obi-Wan cried.

Ooops.

'Sorry, Master,' Anakin replied, flipping over to Obi-Wan's right and firing at the shield generator. With another explosion, the shield deactivated, triggering the blast doors to close.

'I have a bad feeling about this!' Obi-Wan announced, bracing himself for impact. Anakin surged his fighter forward.

The blast doors were almost closed. They were so close.

Anakin and Obi-Wan skidded into the hangar, just as the doors slammed shut.

A/N: Yes, the first few chapters will be the rescue of the Chancellor because its a little bit AU and it will become important to the story later. As for the mention of Shaak Ti, when I first wrote this chapter I was actually unaware of the disagreements of what was actually canon and what isn't, but this story - or parts of it anyway, was actually partially inspired by some of the Revenge of the Sith deleted scenes, so I'm going to use some of the events from them. I would like to point out, however, if you have seen them, that I changed bits from them as well. As I said before, this is an AU so it shouldn't really matter anyway.