The Phantom Menace
Civil unrest is spreading throughout the Republic.
Thousands of worlds teeter at the brink of anarchy.
The Jedi, the peacekeepers of the Republic for a thousand generations,
have been deployed across the galaxy to ease tensions on these worlds.
Naboo, jewel of the Republic, has brought the tensions to a head.
Naboo's eon old rivalry with its moon of Nibia has flared up once again.
Neither planet having a sizable army, the Jedi dispatch only 2 of their Knights.
Negotiations have started back up, and the Jedi hope the rest of the galaxy follows suit
Chapter 1.
"Do you really think it will come to war?" asked the younger Jedi
"I doubt it my Padawan, the Republic has been at peace since its founding, and there would be nothing to gain by starting a war." The Elder Jedi responded.
"Or has it been so long since a war raged that none of us know what the beginning of one looks like?"
The older Jedi chuckled and stroked his beard. "That may well be Obi-Wan."
"But we won't be where the action breaks, I mean we're on Naboo, the negotiations are winding down, this was over before we even arrived here. And we are only here because Yoda begged the Chancellor to let us come here. He just wants us out of the way."
"Obi-Wan, you know Yoda never does anything lightly. The only reason there aren't more of us here is because the Senate doesn't think the Situation on Naboo to be serious. Riots have broken out on other worlds, and that is where the public wishes the Jedi to go. The Jedi Council sensed something more to be here, but the Senate won't hear of it. And the Chancellor is a politician before anything else; he knows that if the Senate and the Jedi don't stand together at this moment of chaos that we might never get out of it. It is only because of his faith in Yoda that we are even here right now."
"If that were true Qui-Gon, why would they send us? There are plenty of better, more experienced Knights out there. Why would they send an untested Padawan, and a man who hasn't left the Coruscant Temple in over a decade …" Obi-Wan cast his eyes down upon his drink. "I'm sorry master … I didn't … I meant no disrespect ..."
Qui-Gon waved off young Kenobi's apology. Obi-Wan was right, Qui-Gon hadn't been out of the Temple until the civil unrest broke out. Not since the fire, his sons would have been about Kenobi's age by now, which is probably why Qui-Gon had taken an interest in him back at Coruscant. Yoda had trained Kenobi until he was in his late-teens, before Qui-Gon took over for the final steps in becoming a full Knight. Obi-Wan was to be his apprentice, his Padawan, until they sought a quest worthy enough to bestow the title of Knight on Kenobi. Reflecting on this, Qui-Gon often wondered if it was really he who had chosen Kenobi, or if it was some prodding by his old master to get him out of the Temple and back into life. It was one of many conversations Yoda had with Qui-Gon of late. The Force is to be applied to aid people, it does no one good to sit and meditate their lives away in the temple. Yoda was glad that Qui-Gon's family inspired him to be a shinning example of a Jedi, but since their deaths, he had forgotten how to be one. The Force was life, and it seemed that Qui-Gon forgot that life goes on, and that one day he would join his family in the embrace of the Force, but now was not the time to squander his abilities. Qui-Gon would often joke that, Yoda should follow his own advice. "Meditate the old must do, give advise, yes. Follow mine you should." Yoda told him.
The two Jedi had gone on a number of errands, but in this time of Pax-Galactica finding a quest of appropriate spiritual magnitude was few and far between. The boy now in his early twenties was one of the oldest Padawans in the order. And Qui-Gon knew that Obi-Wan blamed him for that. He knew that they younger Jedi thought the old man was coddling him, so he wouldn't lose another 'son'.
"It's quite alright, you speak the truth." Qui-Gon took a pull from his ale. "But what better two Jedi to send to a place, if you didn't want to draw attention to the situation? Speaking of that we are doing far too much of it."
Obi-Wan glanced down at his drink. Qui-Gon was right after all. This wasn't the kind of place people came to socialize, especial two men who appeared to be a father and son pair. They were at Jumba's Pub. A Gungan run establishment, it was at the far outskirts of Nubian territory, but it also didn't fall under the jurisdiction Gungan Hegemony. It wasn't a place you'd expect to find the well to do of Naboo. Obi-Wan looked himself over, he was wearing old rags of a beggar, stained with food, and who knew what else, his hood drawn high over his head, he certainly didn't appear to be a member of the prestigious Jedi Order. Luckily for them, the other patrons were more interested in the stripper and cheap booze than the two men.
"Where is he?" Obi-Wan muttered.
"Patience, you'll know when you see him."
Several drinks later, Obi-Wan was beginning to think their contact wouldn't show, or that maybe it was one of the strippers, at least that would give her an excuse if she was busy stripping, though most of the strippers had been performing … other services of late. Kenobi, felt Qui-Gon's foot tap his calf, and nonchalantly scanned the pub. A bumbling Gungan stumbled his way over from the bar, in which he had been seated for the last 20 minutes. Obi-Wan put his face in his hand, this is just what we need, he thought, a drunken local to come over to our table, while we are waiting for our contact.
"Mesa a Jar-Jar Binks!" the Gungan slurred, as he plopped himself next to Kenobi.
"Mesa get a biggo promotion, itsa time to celebrate. Tree drinks for mesa and friends."
Jar-Jar then stumbled away from the table to the bar to gather the drinks. Qui-Gon's eyes met Kenobi's. Obi-Wan couldn't believe it, this drunk was their contact, and he knew Yoda was punishing him now. Jar-Jar came back and slammed down the brews, a little drunkenly as he sat next to Obi-Wan in their booth. He almost feel across the table into Qui-Gon's lap before he regained his balance and sat down.
"To mesa." The gungan toasted, as he spilled most of his drink over himself, rather than actually drinking any of it.
"Oh noes!" He cried "A bigo mess, mesa be back soon."
As the gungan departed for the restrooms, Qui-Gon again signaled Obi-Wan. It was apparently time to go. As the two Jedi headed for their speeder Obi-Wan let out a complaint, "well that was a waste of time, that drunk was no help at all, just another wild chase at this womp-rat infested pub."
"Looks can be deceiving." Qui-Gon stated, as he tossed a data disc in the air. "Sometimes the best way to hide is in plain sight."
Kenobi caught the disc, he couldn't believe it, the whole thing had been a charade. The gungan wasn't drunk, he was just wasting time at the bar, so no one would grow suspicious of anyone directly approaching the two men at the pub. When he almost tackled Qui-Gon, he must have slipped him the disc, and his spill, just another excuse to remove him from the area. For a drunken backwater hick, maybe this Jar-Jar wasn't so bad after all.
Obi-Wan plugged the disc into the speeder as Qui-Gon drove them back towards the capital city of Theed. Jar-Jar appeared in a holographic portrait, as he laid out what he and the other gungan spies had ferreted out. When he spoke he dropped all traces of his backwater accent. Jar-Jar detailed where he would be if the two Knights would need to contact him. The most troubling piece of information that the gungan entrusted them with, was that the Nibians had no intention of reaching any sort of settlement with the inhabitants of Naboo.
The gungan described the relationship of the three species that populated the two worlds. Naboo was shared by the humans and the gungans. The gungans an amphibious humanoid, with a head similar to a duckbilled dinosaur with stalked eyes placed on top of their heads, and long earl-like fins extending out from behind their eyes, life-form dominated the southern-hemisphere which was mostly oceanic in nature, while the humans lived in the northern-hemisphere. Naboo was one of the most resource rich planets in the galaxy, hence its nickname of 'Jewel of the Republic'. The gungans were mostly farmers exporting crops to the rest of the republic, while the humans were artisans who manufactured starships and starship drives. The ultra sleek Nubian Starships were second to none in quality, and the only faster ships in the galaxy were manufactured in Corellia, but most people were willing to take less speed for more style and comfort. The Nubians also produced fine art which was reflected in all of their cities, with their large supply of lumber and ore it was hard to find any affluent member of the Republic who didn't have at least one Nubian masterpiece adorning their home.
The Nibians however were not as well off. The insectoid Nubians stood about a meter tall, and looked strikingly like praying mantises, they had two sets of arms, a smaller set located by their abdomen ending in 3 digits, and a larger set ending in 4. The Nibians lived on a canyon planet, with minimal resources, and many pitfalls, because of this all Nibians were natural navigators. Needing to remember how to traverse the planet for resources meant survival. With the advent of astromech droids, the demand for deep space navigators hadn't been as high. With their primary export on the decline and no other worldly resources to fall back on the Nibians grew to loath the Nubians.
"It looks like the Nubians are living in the lap of luxury, while their Nibian neighbors are forced to live in the slums. I think the Nibians have a right to be angry, the greed displayed by the Nubians is outstanding."
"The Nibians do have a right to be upset, but not at the Nubians. They didn't cause Nibia's downfall. Are the Nubians being greedy, yes, instead of hoarding their wealthy they could aid Nibia. But Nibia's anger has clouded their judgment, instead of lashing out at Naboo, they could focus their efforts on fixing their own problem."
Obi-Wan nodded, "true enough, I guess this situation isn't as simple as it seems."
Qui-Gon agreed, "it isn't that difficult either, if they would both work together and put aside their anger, greed and fear, we wouldn't be in this mess."
Jar-Jar's message played on. It seemed that the Nibian had close ties to the Trade Federation, a galactic trade guild that had built their fortune from transporting goods across the galaxy. They were headed by the Neimoidians, a reptilian humanoid species with large bulbous red eyes heart shaped heads green-gray skin and lack of a proboscis. The Neimoidians and the Nibian had close ties though the Trade Federation, it was one of the few corporations that kept so many Nibian navigators on retainer. The Neimoidians found that the Nibians loyalty was worth more than an astromechs retraining bolt.
The Neimoidian Trade Federation had another thing in common with the citizens of Nibia, they despised Naboo. Naboo was one of the few planets that kept the Federation from having a monopoly on the import/export business. Naboo refused to let the Federation deliver its goods to other planets. The revenue from delivering Nubian exports alone was worth a dozen contracts from other worlds.
Qui-Gon shifted the landspeeder into a higher gear. Kenobi felt his master's sense of urgency increase.
"The Trade Federation! This is not good, we must alert the Republic before it is too late. The comms in this speeder don't have the strength to send a signal to Coruscant, but it should get us through to the Queen's cambers in Theed."
"What are you talking about?" Kenobi demanded.
"The Trade Federation has one of the largest standing armies in the Republic," Qui-Gon explained.
"Why would the Republic allow a Guild specializing in trade to have an army at all?"
"Pirates, Smugglers, and thieves, most of the goods they move are very valuable, and they need to be escorted by someone. The Federation realized that they could move things cheaper if they didn't need to pay the Republic fleet as an escort for every shipment they made, and they have their own fighter wings of Vulture droids, and garrisons full of infantry consisting of B1 Battle droids. If they jump here with a fleet of Lucrehulk-class droid control ships Naboo will fall in days."
A glow orb flashed in Kenobi's mind. "With the fleet spread across the galaxy, no one will even know that this coup has taken place. They force Naboo to sign their treaty, hold them hostage and operate like everything is normal. Nothing will stir up the Republic's attention if they hold the whole planet under quarantine!"
"At least there is one upside to this," Qui-Gon stated. "They aren't ready to openly defy the Republic, or they would have just taken the whole planet by force."
"Some upside."
Qui-Gon tried the comm. system again, and this time a woman appeared, they obviously hadn't penetrated the web of bureaucracy that surrounded all heads of state.
"This is Fa Kabob, how may I direct your call?"
"I am Qui-Gon Jinn of the Jedi Order, I need to address Queen Amidala, it is of grave urgency."
"The Queen is busy now, can I take a message?"
"This is far more important I assure you!"
"I'll see, let me put you on hold."
"No! Wait."
Fa Kabob hesitated, before transporting them into the purgatory that is holding.
"Tell the Queen to contact the Senate and have them send the Fleet to Naboo, contact them yourself if you have to just do it now."
Fa Kabob nodded and then proceeded to put the Jedi on hold.
"It looks like we'll have to trust in the force at this point." Kenobi stated.
"We still are over an hour out from Theed, I hope we make it there in time."