by Terry Brooks
“Will there be a battle?” he asked quickly, trying unsuccessfully to hide his excitement.
She nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“Will you be involved?” he pressed.
She smiled sadly. “Annie, I don’t have a choice.”
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood together some distance away. The Jedi still weren’t speaking to each other, or only barely so. Their words on the journey out from Coruscant had been reserved almost exclusively for others. The hard feelings caused by Qui-Gon’s bid to train Anakin did not soften. The boy had tried to talk to Obi-Wan once aboard the Queen’s ship, just to say he was sorry this had happened, but the younger Jedi had brushed him off.
Now, though, Obi-Wan was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the situation. He had been close with Qui-Gon for too long to let a momentary disagreement put an end to twenty-odd years of friendship. Qui-Gon was like a father to him, the only father he knew. He was angry that the Jedi Master would dismiss him so abruptly in favor of the boy, but he realized, too, the depth of Qui-Gon’s passion when he believed in something. Training this boy to be a Jedi was a cause Qui-Gon championed as he had championed no other in Obi-Wan’s memory. He did not do so to slight his protégé. He did so because he believed in the boy’s destiny.
Obi-Wan understood. Who could say? Perhaps this time Qui-Gon was right. Perhaps Anakin Skywalker’s training was a cause worth fighting for.
“I’ve been thinking,” Qui-Gon announced suddenly, keeping his voice low, his eyes directed toward the others. “We are treading on dangerous ground. If the Queen intends to fight a war, we cannot become involved. Not even in her efforts to persuade the Gungans to join with the Naboo against the Federation, if that is what she intends by coming here. The Jedi have no authority to take sides.”
“But we do have authority to protect the Queen,” Obi-Wan pointed out.
Qui-Gon’s eyes shifted to find his. “It is a fine line we walk, then.”
“Master,” Obi-Wan said, facing him now. “I behaved badly on Coruscant, and I am embarrassed. I meant no disrespect to you. I do not wish to be difficult in the matter of the boy.”
“Nor have you been,” the older Jedi replied, a faint smile appearing. “You have been honest with me. Honesty is never wrong. I did not lie when I told the Council you were ready. You are. I have taught you all I can. You will be a great Jedi, my young Padawan. You will make me proud.”
They gripped hands impulsively, and as quickly as that the breach that had opened between them was closed.
Moments later, a dark shape broke the surface of the water with a splash, and Jar Jar Binks climbed from the lake, shaking water from his amphibious skin onto the assembled. Long ears dripping, billed mouth shedding water like a duck’s, he shook his head worriedly.
“Tis nobody dere! Deys all gone!” His eyestalks swiveled. “Some kinda fight, deys have. Maccaneks, mebbe. Very bombad. Otoh Gunga empty. All Gungans gone. All gone.”
“Do you think they have been taken to the camps?” Panaka asked quickly, glancing around at the group.
“More likely they were wiped out,” Obi-Wan offered in disgust.
But Jar Jar shook his head. “Me no think so. Gungans too smart. Go into hiding. When dey in trubble, go to sacred place. Maccaneks no find dem dere.”
Qui-Gon stepped forward. “Sacred place?” he repeated. “Can you take us there, Jar Jar?”
The Gungan sighed heavily, as if to say “Here we go again,” and beckoned for them to follow.
They traversed the swamp for some time, first skirting the lake, then plunging deep into a forest of massive trees and tall grasses, following a water-screened pathway that connected a series of knolls. Somewhere in the distance, Trade Federation STAPs buzzed and whined as a search for the transport fugitives commenced in earnest. Jar Jar glanced about apprehensively as he picked his way through the mire, but did not slow.
Finally, they emerged in a clearing of marshy grasses and stands of trees with roots tangled so thickly they formed what appeared to be an impassable hedge. Jar Jar stopped, sniffed the air speculatively, and nodded. “Dissen it.”
He lifted his head and made a strange chittering noise though his billed mouth, the sound echoing eerily in the silence. The group waited, eyes searching the misty gloom.
Suddenly Captain Tarpals and a scouting party of Gungans riding kaadu emerged from the haze, electropoles and energy spears held at the ready.
“Heydey ho, Cap’n Tarpals,” Jar Jar greeted cheerfully.
“Binks!” the Gungan leader exclaimed in disbelief. “Notta gain!”
Jar Jar shrugged nonchalantly. “We come ta see da Boss!”
Tarpals rolled his eyes. “Ouch time, Binks. Ouch time for alla yous, mebbe.”
Herding them together, Gungans on kaadu providing a perimeter escort on all sides, Tarpals led them deeper into the swamp. The canopy formed by the limbs of the trees became so thick that the sky and the sun almost disappeared. Bits and pieces of statuary began to surface, crumbling stone facades and plinths sinking in the mire. Vines snaked their way across the broken remains, dropping down from limbs that twisted and wound together in vast wooden nets.
Pushing through a high stand of saw grass, they arrived in a clearing filled with Gungan refugees—men, women, and children of all ages and descriptions, huddled together on a broad, dry rise, many with their possessions gathered around them. Tarpals led the company past the refugees to where the ruins of what had once been a grand temple were being slowly reclaimed by the swamp. Platforms and stairs were all that remained intact, the columns and ceilings having long ago collapsed and broken apart. The massive heads and limbs of stone statues poked out of the mire, fingers clutching weapons and eyes staring sightlessly into space.
At the far end of the ruins, Boss Nass appeared, lumbering out of shadows with several more of the Gungan council to stand atop a stone head partially submerged in the water. Amidala and her retinue approached to within hailing distance over a network of causeways and islands.
“Jar Jar Binks, whadda yous doen back?” Boss Nass rumbled angrily. “Yous suppose ta take dese outlanders and no come back! Yous pay good dis time!” The fleshy head swiveled. “Who yous bring here ta da Gungan sacred place?”
The Queen stepped forward at once, white face lifting. “I am Amidala, Queen of the Naboo.”
“Naboo!” Boss Nass thundered. “No like da Naboo! Yous bring da maccaneks! Dey bust up our homes! Dey drive us all out!” A heavy arm lifted, pointing at the Queen. “Yous all bombad! Yous all die, mebbe!”
Anakin noticed suddenly that they were completely surrounded by Gungans, some on kaadu, some on foot, all with electropoles, energy spears, and some sort of throwing device. Captain Panaka and the Naboo guards were looking around nervously, hands straying toward their blasters. The Jedi flanked the Queen and her handmaidens, but their arms hung loose at their sides.
“We wish to form an alliance with you,” Amidala tried again.
“We no form nutten wit da Naboo!” Boss Nass roared angrily.
Abruptly Padmé detached herself from the others and stepped in front of the Queen. “You did well, Sabé. But I will have to do this myself,” she said quietly, and turned to face Boss Nass.
“Who dis?” the head Gungan snapped.
Standing next to Anakin, R2-D2 beeped softly in recognition. The droid had figured it out first.
Padmé straightened. “I am Queen Amidala,” she announced in a loud, clear voice. “Sabé serves from time to time as my decoy, my loyal bodyguard. I am sorry for my deception, but given the circumstances, I am sure you can understand.” She turned to the Jedi, her eyes shifting momentarily to find Anakin. “Gentlemen, I apologize for misleading you.”
Her eyes returned quickly to Boss Nass, who was frowning suspiciously, clearly not understanding any of what was happening. “Although our people do not always agree, Your Honor,” she continued, her voice softening, “we have always lived in peace. Until now. The Trade
Federation, with its tanks and its ‘maccaneks,’ has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build. The Gungans are in hiding, and the Naboo have been imprisoned in camps. If we do not act quickly, all that we value will be lost forever.”
She stretched out her hands. “I ask you to help us, Your Honor.” She paused. “No, I beg you to help us.”
She dropped abruptly to one knee in front of the astonished leader of the Gungans. There was an audible gasp of surprise from the Naboo. “We are your humble servants, Your Honor,” Padmé said so that all could hear. “Our fate is in your hands. Please help us.”
She motioned, and one by one, her handmaidens, Panaka, and the Naboo pilots and guards dropped to their knees beside her. Anakin and the Jedi were the last to join them. Out of the corner of his eye, Anakin saw Jar Jar standing virtually alone in their midst, staring around in wonderment and shock.
For a moment, no one said anything. Then a slow, deep rumble of laughter rose out of the throat of Boss Nass. “Ho, ho, ho! Me like dis! Dis good! Yous no think yous greater den da Gungans!”
The head Gungan came forward, reaching out with one hand. “Yous stand, Queen Amidoll. Yous talk wit me, okay? Mebbe we gonna be friends after all!”
The senior Sith Lord appeared in a shimmer of robes and shadows as his protégé and the Neimoidians walked slowly down the corridor leading from the throne room back to the plaza.
“We have sent out patrols,” Nute Gunray said, concluding his report to the ominous figure in the projection. “We have already located their starship in the swamp. It won’t be long until we have them in hand, my lord.”
Darth Sidious was silent. For a moment Nute Gunray was afraid he hadn’t been heard. “This is an unexpected move for the Queen,” the Sith Lord said at last, his voice so low it could barely be heard. “It is too aggressive. Lord Maul, be mindful.”
“Yes, Master,” the other Sith growled softly, yellow eyes gleaming.
“Be patient,” Darth Sidious purred, head lowered in cowled shadows, hands folded into black robes. “Let them make the first move.”
In silence, Darth Maul and the Neimoidians continued on as the hologram slowly faded away.
Boss Nass was as mercurial as he was large, and his change of attitude toward the Naboo was dramatic. Once he decided that the Queen did not consider herself his superior, that she was in fact quite sincere in her plea for Gungan help, he was quick to come around. The fact that his dislike of the battle droids was every bit as strong as hers didn’t hurt matters, of course. Perhaps he had been hasty in his belief that the “maccaneks” wouldn’t find the Gungans in the swamps. Otoh Gunga had been attacked at daybreak two days earlier and its inhabitants driven from their homes. Boss Nass was not about to sit still for that. If a plan could be put together to drive the invaders out, the Gungan army would do its part to help.
He took Amidala and her companions out of the swamp to the edge of the grass plains that ran south to the Naboo capital city of Theed. Any attack would be mounted from here, and the Queen had come to the Gungans with a very specific plan of attack in mind.
The first step in that plan involved sending Captain Panaka on a reconnaissance of the city.
As they stood looking out from the misty confines of the swamp toward the open grasslands, waiting for Panaka’s return, Boss Nass trundled up to Jar Jar.
“Yous doen grand, Jar Jar Binks!” he rumbled, wrapping a meaty arm around the slender Gungan’s shoulders. “Yous bring da Naboo and da Gungan together! Tis very brave thing.”
Jar Jar shuffled his feet and looked embarrassed. “Ah, yous no go sayen dat. Tis nutten.”
“No, yous grand warrior!” Boss Nass declared, squeezing the air out of his compatriot with a massive hug.
“No, no, no,” the other persisted bashfully.
“So,” Boss Nass concluded brightly, “we make yous bombad general in da Gungan army!”
“What?” Jar Jar exclaimed in dismay. “General? Me? No, no, no!” he gasped, and his eyes rolled up, his tongue fell out, and he fainted dead away.
Padmé was in conference with the Jedi and the Gungan generals, to whose number Jar Jar Binks had just been added, so Anakin, at loose ends, had wandered over to keep company with the Gungan sentries who were keeping lookout for Panaka. The Gungans patrolled the swamp perimeter on kaadu and kept watch through macrobinoculars from treetops and the remains of ancient statuary, making certain Federation scouting parties didn’t come up on them unexpectedly. Anakin stood at the base of a temple column, still trying to come to terms with Padmé’s revelation. Everyone had been surprised, of course, but no one more than he. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her now, knowing she wasn’t just a girl, but a Queen. He had declared he would marry her someday, believing it so, but how could someone who had been a slave all his life marry a Queen? He wanted to talk to her, but there wasn’t any opportunity for that here.
He supposed things wouldn’t be the same after this, but he wished they could. He liked her as much now as he had before, and to tell the truth he didn’t care if she was a Queen or not.
He glanced over at the girl and the Jedi Knights and thought how different things were here than they had been on Tatooine. Nothing had worked out the way he had hoped for any of them, and it remained to be seen if leaving his mother and home to come with them was a good idea after all.
The Gungan lookout standing atop a piece of statuary above him gave a grunt. “Dey comen,” he called down, peering out into the grasslands through his macrobinoculars.
Anakin gave a yell in response and raced over to Padmé, the Jedi, and the Gungan generals. “They’re back!” he shouted.
Everyone turned to watch a squad of four speeders skim over the flats and pull to a stop in the concealing shadow of the swamp. Captain Panaka and several dozen Naboo soldiers, officers, and starfighter pilots jumped down. Panaka made his way directly to the Queen.
“I think we got through without being detected, Your Highness,” he advised quickly, brushing the dust from his clothing.
“What is the situation?” she asked as the others crowded close to them.
Panaka shook his head. “Most of our people are in the detention camps. A few hundred officers and guards have formed an underground movement to resist the invasion. I’ve brought as many of the leaders as I could find.”
“Good.” Padmé nodded appreciatively toward Boss Nass. “The Gungans have a larger army than we imagined.”
“Very, very bombad!” the Gungan chief rumbled.
Panaka exhaled wearily. “You’ll need it. The Federation army is much larger than we thought, too. And stronger.” He gave the Queen a considering look. “In my opinion, this isn’t a battle we can win, Your Highness.”
Standing at the edge of the circle, Jar Jar Binks looked down at Anakin and rolled his eyes despairingly.
But Padmé was undeterred. “I don’t intend to win it, Captain. The battle is a diversion. We need the Gungans to draw the droid army away from Theed, so we can infiltrate the palace and capture the Neimoidian viceroy. The Trade Federation cannot function without its head. Neimoidians don’t think for themselves. Without the viceroy to command them, they will cease to be a threat.”
She waited for them to consider her plan, eyes fixing automatically on Qui-Gon Jinn. “What do you think, Master Jedi?” she asked.
“It is a well-conceived plan,” Qui-Gon acknowledged. “It appears to be your best possible move, Your Highness, although there is great risk. Even with the droid army in the field, the viceroy will be well guarded. And many of the Gungans may be killed.”
Boss Nass snorted derisively. “They bombad guns no get through our shields! We ready to fight!”
Jar Jar gave Anakin another eye roll, but this time Boss Nass saw him do so and gave his new general a hard warning look.
Padmé was thinking. “We could reduce the Gungan casualties by securing the main hangar and sending our pilots to knock out their orbiting control ship. Without the c
ontrol ship to signal them, the droid army can’t function at all.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. “But if the viceroy should escape, Your Highness,” Obi-Wan pointed out darkly, “he will return with another droid army, and you’ll be no better off than you are now. Whatever else happens, you must capture him.”
“Indeed, we must,” Padmé agreed. “Everything depends on it. Cut off the head, and the serpent dies. Without the viceroy, the Trade Federation collapses.”
They moved on to other matters then, beginning a detailed discussion of battle tactics and command responsibilities. Anakin stood listening for a moment, then eased his way close to Qui-Gon and tugged on his sleeve.
“What about me?” he asked quietly.
The Jedi Master put a hand on the boy’s head and smiled. “You stay close to me, Annie, do as I say, and you’ll be safe.”
Keeping safe wasn’t quite what the boy had in mind, but he let the matter drop, satisfied that as long as he was close to Qui-Gon, he wouldn’t be far from the action.
In the Theed palace throne room, Darth Sidious loomed in hologram form before Darth Maul, Battle Droid Commander OOM-9, and the Neimoidians. Smooth and silky, his voice oozed through the shadowy ether.
“Our young Queen surprises me,” he whispered thoughtfully, hidden within his dark robes. “She is more foolish than I thought.”
“We are sending all available troops to meet this army of hers,” Nute Gunray offered quickly. “It appears to be assembling at the edge of the swamp. Primitives, my lord—nothing better. We do not expect much resistance.”
“I am increasing security at all Naboo detention camps,” OOM-9 intoned.
Darth Maul glared at nothing, then shook his horned head. “I feel there is more to this than what we know, my Master. The two Jedi may be using the Queen for their own purposes.”
“The Jedi cannot become involved,” Darth Sidious soothed, hands spreading in a placating motion. “They can only protect the Queen. Even Qui-Gon Jinn cannot break that covenant. This will work to our advantage.”
Darth Maul snorted, anxious to get on with it.
