Chapter 1: Prologues and Policemen

(I've taken a few artistic liberties, but no one except me even liked this movie, so shut up.)

Qui-gon was more tense than usual, and Anakin couldn't figure out why. But his instructions had been clear, and so Anakin was searching for someplace he could hide out.

ZAM! A blaster bolt whizzed by, and Anakin barely got out of its way. He was trying to hide, but there just wasn't much cover in this hangar. Anakin stared out at the starfighters that were fading quickly into the distance, almost wishing he could have joined them. At least then he'd know what to do. Flying had always seemed natural to him.

"Destroyers!" someone shouted. Peeking his head out, Anakin saw some circular droids roll in and come to a halt as they unfolded into some kind of insectoid, ray-shielded menace. He looked helplessly at Qui-gon and the others as they started taking heavy fire from the destroyers. Then, his eyes caught on something that gave him an idea. He grinned.

Ducking about and trying to appear harmless, Anakin ran toward his new idea. Miraculously, he made it, and smiled as he looked up at the Naboo Starfighter. Flying had always seemed natural to him. It couldn't be that hard, could it? As he climbed into the cockpit and saw all of the unfamiliar buttons and instruments, it suddenly occurred to him that maybe this wouldn't be anything like the cruiser he'd been exploring on his way here.

"Ahh!" Someone cried out as they were hit, flying back a bit from the sheer impact. That settled it. Anakin gritted his teeth and sat down in the cockpit. Trust your instincts, Qui-gon's words came back to him. Well, in a podracer, the ignition would be there, and any tricks to deal with problematic opponents would be here, so how about…he pulled on the stick that seemed about right. And the cockpit sealed over him. Whoops. An accusatory bleep caught his attention.

"R2?" Anakin asked. More bleeps responded, and Anakin noticed a translation running on a small screen. "I'm trying to help them, R2, see what you can do!" Then Anakin started pulling lever and pushing buttons, hoping that one would be the weapon controls. Eventually, he found them, but by then he was hovering in the middle of the hanger, ready to takeoff. Quickly, before he lost the shot, he blasted the two destroyers away, but then he felt a sudden jerk of acceleration as the ship's auto-pilot launched off for to battle in space.

Well, he had wanted to join them, hadn't he? Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Cheers filled the hangar as the last starfighter saved their lives and then zoomed off to join the rest. But Padme, for she was dressed plainly again, walked up to Qui-gon.

"Where's Anakin?" she asked.

"I told him to hide. He should be around here somewhere." The Jedi Master replied.

"I could swear I saw him in that cockpit, just before it flew off." Padme said, and Qui-gon was surprised to detect a bit of worry in her tone. He stared off after the fighter, pondering the matter. He that odd…something he'd been sensing in the force begin to relax, and decided that the boy would be fine.

"Anakin is a fine pilot. I'm sure he'll be all right. And in any case, I don't think there's much we can do about it right now," he said, looking meaningfully at Captain Panaka, who was directing the remaining fighters in preparation for their advance. Padme looked at Panaka, set her jaw, and strode to the man's side, clearly trying to keep her mind off of Anakin.

Fascinating, Qui-gon thought to himself.

When they were organized, and a decoy of the Queen was ready to create a distraction when they met resistance, the group attempted to start into the palace proper through an enormous set of thick, grey doors. As the doors opened, however, they heard something unexpected.

"-are under arrest by the order of…well, we'll get to that later." A figure in some sort of hide-like armor was standing over another in dark robes. Qui-gon stiffened as he recognized the one on the ground as the zabrak from Tatooine who had attacked him so viciously. He felt Obi-wan tense at his side, but laid a hand on his padawan's shoulder, holding the younger man back.

The figure in the hide armor, a male human, turned to face them. "Well now, this is interesting," he said. "Several of the royal guard, some armed…handmaidens I think, and…oh boy. Two Jedi. Great. This is just what I-" and then the figure on the ground kicked the man's legs out from under him, knocking him down with a quiet, "oof" and a bright flash of light. There was a grunt, and then the man rolled away from the robed figure just in time to avoid getting stabbed through with a suddenly-present red lightsaber. Turning his roll into a crouch, the man shot several beams of light from some sort of thin device that had materialized in his hand. All of the beams struck the unmoving body on the ground with no discernable effect for several long moments. Then, the hand holding the lightsaber slowly released its grip and fell to the floor, the suddenly inactive weapon dropping gently to the ground beside the limp appendage.

Slowly and carefully, the man in hide armor stood up, the device in his hand still trained intently on his opponent.

"What. The bloody. Hell."

It took Qui-gon several seconds to gather his thoughts and respond. "I believe I could ask the same question, Mister…?"

The man in hide paused. Then he shot one last beam into the body on the ground, this one a sickly green. Nothing happened. Nodding slightly, the man turned to face Qui-gon, a decidedly odd expression on his face.

"Oh, buggering hell. I did not need this. You…ugh." Seeming to lose his patience, the man waved his hand at the downed zabrak's lightsaber, which flew to his hand and disappeared into the hide armor somewhere. Qui-gon started at the use of the Force, almost instinctively stepping into a defensive stance and dropping his outer robes to prepare for intense, acrobatic combat.

"Who are you?" the Jedi Master demanded, suddenly suspicious. Beside him, Qui-gon heard Obi-wan prepare for battle.

The man in hide armor stared deep into Qui-gon's eyes before he answered, "Mate…that is way outside of your jurisdiction. Even if you are some kind of Jedi." Then, before Qui-gon could react, the man crouched again, but this time he disappeared, taking the body with him. Feeling a buildup in the Force behind him, Qui-gon turned around, only to find a most baffling sight. At the other end of the hangar, just inside the doors; the man stood with the body of the zabrak over his shoulder. He seemed to be…searching for something. Then, whatever it was, the man found it just as the buildup of energy reached its peak.

"ASTRAL…IMITERRAE!"

With an incredible shout and a shocking blast of energy, the man arced like lightning off into the sky. On the ground where he had been standing a faintly smoking crater lingered, the only trace of his existence.

Suddenly, a sort of aftershock hit the group of returning handmaidens and royals, knocking some of them down. Qui-gon, momentarily forgetting everything else, ran to the end of the hangar to see what had caused such a disturbance. All he found was the scorch mark on the floor and a faint energy that was already fading. Then, his padawan caught up.

"Master, look!" he cried, and Qui-gon looked back at Obi-wan, bewildered. The boy was pointing up into the sky, at a distant explosion. "They must have taken out that Lucrehulk they had in orbit. The droids should be fried; now we just have to capture the Viceroy before he gets away!"

Qui-gon took one last look at the far-off bloom that marked their victory. Something wasn't right with that, but Obi-wan had a point. Turning, they made their way back to the queen and her escort. When they arrived she confronted them quite curtly.

"Master Jedi, what just happened?"

Qui-gon paused for a moment as he considered what to say. "Your highness, I'm afraid I don't quite know. In any case, I believe that the droid control ship has just been destroyed. We should press our advantage while we can."

Padme took this in, then nodded. As she walked to the front of the group she rearranged her face, attempting to come up with a poignant battle cry when she turned to face them all she had was, "People of Naboo, attack!"

Distantly, as the people on the ground retook their palace, seventeen Naboo starfighters were making their way back to the planet. The mood was boisterous as they celebrated their recent victory. A lucky shot, they would say later. It was only the youngest among them who had noticed anything else about it. But he was too busy celebrating right then to do anything other than whoop with joy.

A/N: So, this is the end result of a story I promised quite some time ago. The idea I had was a very, very messy Star Wars crossover than never got off the ground. Then this idea came to me, and now it's getting some love. Enjoy!

~f