Chapter 1
Obi-Wan watched the Trade Federation ship grow larger as they approached and took a deep, calming breath. Something wasn't right, he could sense it, but just as he grasped for it to determine what it was, it eluded him. Stretching out with the Force, Obi-Wan began a search of the ship, but he didn't get far from the ship when he sensed a weakly-made Force cloak and who was hiding behind it. Obi-Wan frowned, his eyebrows drawing together.
"Padawan, what's wrong?" asked Qui-Gon when he sensed the sudden change of Obi-Wan's mood.
"We have an extra passenger," Obi-Wan responded, his voice low. "Excuse me, Master," he said as he left the cockpit and headed for the cargo bay.
Entering the cargo bay, Obi-Wan looked around the room that held boxes filled with spare parts, emergency food supplies, and other things. "Zane, come out of there right now!"
A frantic shuffling came from one of the crates and then the lid of the crate slid aside and a head of reddish-brown hair appeared as Zane made his way out of the crate.
Obi-Wan crossed his arms and waited for the young boy to move the lid back into place, then he ran over to him, stopping a few feet from him. Zane looked up at him, but when he saw the expression on Obi-Wan's face, he looked down at his feet instead.
"Zane, I told you quiet clearly before I left that you can not come with us."
"But I wanted to." Zane looked up at Obi-Wan. "I'd rather be with you than at the Temple."
Obi-Wan's face softened and he knelt down to be at eye-level with Zane. "Jedi don't run away just because people dislike them."
"I'm sorry," Zane said and hugged Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan returned the hug and then stood up. "I'll think of a suitable punishment for you later."
"Why not give him extra meditation to do while we're negotiating with the Trade Federation?" Qui-Gon suggested as he stood in the doorway of the cargo bay.
"Master Jinn!" Zane gleefully shouted out and ran toward him to give him a hug.
Qui-Gon grinned and picked Zane up, letting the boy hug him. "Can I go watch the nego, um, negoations?" Zane asked.
"I suppose you might as well. The Federation types are cowards. The negotiations will be short," Qui-Gon said, earning a grin from Zane.
"Don't pamper him, Master. How will he ever learn right from wrong if he keeps getting rewarded for disobeying?" Obi-Wan said as he approached them.
"Better than wondering if he'll stay on the ship. Besides, its not like he disobeys all the time."
"You have a point. I could prevent him from accessing the Force for a couple hours as a punishment."
"It's your call, Padawan."
Obi-Wan looked at Zane and placed his right hand on his head. "Alright, Zane, you can go to the negotiations with us, but as a punishment you won't be allowed to access the Force for three hours." Before Zane could protest, Obi-Wan created a Force barrier that would prevent Zane from accessing the Force.
Tears filled Zane's eyes when he could no longer feel the Force and then he began to cry into Qui-Gon's shoulder. "I don't like it. You're mean."
"Shh, young one. We need to get going, we have just docked inside the hanger-bay." Qui-Gon put Zane down and pulled the hood of Zane's cloak up over his head.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both pulled their hoods up, and then all three of them headed for the ramp.
Zane walked between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, while Qui-Gon walked a few steps ahead. At the bottom of the ramp was a silver protocol droid.
"I'm TC-14 at your service. This way please."
They followed the droid into a formal conference room that had a long oval-shaped black table with seats surrounding it. There was a bird cage at the left corner of the room next to the doorway that contained exotic, bird-like creatures. Across from the doorway was a large window where an excellent view of Naboo could be seen.
"We are greatly honored by your visit, ambassadors. Make yourselves comfortable. My master will be with you shortly," TC-14 said before leaving the room.
When Zane saw Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon remove their hoods, he did the same. After wiping away the remaining tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his cloak, Zane walked over to the window and looked at the lush, green planet. "What planet is that?"
"It's Naboo, a planet near the outer rim." Obi-Wan said.
"It has so many trees!" Zane said, fascinated at the sight. "Are we going to go down there?"
Obi-Wan shook his head, "No, once we're done with the negotiations here we'll be heading back to the Temple."
"Oh," Zane said, disappointed.
Qui-Gon sat down at the head of the table near the door and Obi-Wan sat down on the chair closest to Qui-Gon, while Zane continued to look with longing at Naboo.
"What fun is a mission if you can't even go to the planet?" Zane asked and pressed his forehead onto the cold glass, as if that would help him get closer to the planet.
"We're not here to have fun, Zane," Qui-Gon said. "We are here because it is our job to be peacemakers. The Trade Federation has blockaded Naboo and is preventing any shipping from reaching the planet. We need to get this issue resolved peacefully so that shipping can resume."
"When do you get to use your lightsabers?" Zane asked as he turned around to face them.
"Only when necessary," Obi-Wan replied.
"When will the negoations start?"
"As soon as the viceroy comes," Obi-Wan said and then looked at Qui-Gon. "Is it in their nature to make us wait so long?"
"No. I sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as this trade dispute."
"Zane, come over here please," Obi-Wan said with concern in his voice.
Zane hurried over to Obi-Wan just as TC-14 returned with a tray of drinks.
Obi-Wan took the small cup of water from the droid and took a sip before placing it on the table. "Zane, if Qui-Gon or I order you to do something, you must do it immediately, no questions asked. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Zane said and then took a cup from the droid. Just as he was taking a sip, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan leapt to their feet and ignited their lightsabers as they sensed the death of their captain and copilot. Zane jumped and dropped the water he was holding, spilling it onto his cloak. With wide eyes, Zane looked up at Obi-Wan. "What's going on?" He heard the droid say "sorry," and looked over to see that the droid had dropped the tray and the pitcher of water.
Qui-Gon spotted a green gas coming out of the vents and disengaged his lightsaber. "Dioxins. Zane, take a deep breath and hold it!"
Zane did as he was told and then grabbed hold of Obi-Wan's cloak.
Obi-Wan removed the Force barrier from Zane so he could have access to the Force. He sent Zane a picture of what he had to do and Zane quickly complied, running to the side of the doorway while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan leapt to an overhang on the ceiling.
Zane removed the training lightsaber from his belt and heard the door slide open. He heard the droid set the pitcher onto the tray and walk out of the room and say "Oh, excuse me."
"Check it out, Corporal. We'll cover you," one of the battle droids said.
"Roger, roger," the corporal said.
Zane felt his lungs begin to burn as he continued to hold his breath. He saw two lightsabers ignite from the doorway and heard the droids' response before shooting at them. The lightsabers swung, deflecting the blasterbolts, and then Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon swung down, grabbed their respective lightsabers and moved out of the room.
Zane carefully emerged from the room and saw that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were rapidly finishing off the battle droids. He took a breath of clean air and kept his lightsaber in a defensive position as he waited for further instructions. He watched with awe as they gracefully fought, deflecting blaster bolts, twirling around, slicing through droids and Force pushing them.
After finishing off the droids in the immediate area, Obi-Wan ran over to Zane. "Are you all right?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, follow behind us as fast as possible. We'll take care of the fighting," Obi-Wan said before running to join Qui-Gon, who was heading to the command bridge.
Zane ran as fast as his legs could take him, using the Force for a burst of speed when he needed it. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon cut down droids as they quickly made their way down the hallway, preventing any blasterfire from reaching Zane.
"Zane! Stay with Master Qui-Gon!" Obi-Wan said as he deflected a blasterbolt that came from a droid coming down the left corridor.
Zane dashed over to the door Qui-Gon was cutting through, narrowly avoiding a blasterbolt that sizzled past his back. Zane watched as Qui-Gon almost completed cutting through the door before pausing for a second. Qui-Gon got a funny look on his face and then plunged his lightsaber into the middle of the doors, making the metal melt.
"Why did you make that face?" Zane asked.
Qui-Gon grunted as he focused on using the Force to aid him in melting the doors. "They closed two blast doors behind this one."
"Oh." Zane looked back at Obi-Wan, who was still skillfully protecting them as Qui-Gon worked to get through the door.
"Master! Destroyers!" Obi-Wan said, glancing briefly over his shoulders. Obi-Wan swung his blade around, preparing to face the destroyers.
Qui-Gon pulled his lightsaber out of the door and within milliseconds he was beside Obi-Wan just as the deadly barrage began.
Zane stood frozen at the door and watched as the blasterbolts simply bounced off the destroyers' shields.
"They have shield generators!" Obi-Wan said, his mind working furiously on how to help Zane get out of this unharmed.
"It's a standoff. Zane, jump onto my back!" Qui-Gon said.
Turning off his saber and hooking it onto his belt, Zane swallowed hard before running and jumping onto Qui-Gon's back. He was a little surprised when Qui-Gon remained steady from the impact. His heart hammering in his chest, Zane wrapped his arms securely around Qui-Gon's chest and wrapped his legs around the older Jedi's waist, making sure that he didn't hinder his movements.
"Let's go," Qui-Gon said and with Force-enhanced speed they tore down the corridor.
They reached a ventilator shaft and Qui-Gon help Zane go through before going in himself. Obi-wan joined them and they began crawling quickly through the shaft.
"Which way do I go?" Zane said.
"Let me get past you and then you can follow behind me," Qui-Gon said, grunting as he squeezed passed Zane. "You think they would make these shafts bigger."
Obi-Wan chuckled. "Come on, let's go, or I'll just squeeze past you."
Qui-Gon snorted and started to move forward. Minutes later, they reached an opening that led into a large hanger bay. Qui-Gon carefully swung open the grate, making as little noise as possible and then jumped down behind some crates.
Zane looked down at the drop and then began to back up. "I can't jump down there," he squeaked out.
"Be calm, Zane. Qui-Gon will help you to land safely."
"You're sure?"
Obi-Wan chuckled. "You trusted him enough when he ordered you to jump onto his back while fighting destroyers."
"Well, okay." Zane crouched down at the opening and leaped out. He felt Qui-Gon guide his descent with the Force and before he knew it, his feet was on the ground again. Qui-Gon motioned for him to stay low as Obi-Wan joined them on the ground.
They crept among the crates and then Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon split up and looked through an opening between two columns of stacked crates.
"Battle droids," Qui-Gon observed.
"It's an invasion army," Obi-Wan added as he watched the droids load onto the ships.
"This is an odd play for the Trade Federation," Qui-Gon stated. "We've got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Valorum." He glanced at Obi-Wan and then back out to the droids and ships. "Let's split up. Stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet."
"You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations were short," Obi-Wan said, smiling. "I'll take Zane with me."
Qui-Gon nodded his head and then slipped away.
"But there were no negoations." Zane said in a low voice.
"Exactly. Now let's go and keep quiet."