Chapter Three: Draw Out the Attacker
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan returned to the Council chamber with Anakin in the early hours of the Coruscant night. They were there for both the results of Anakin's test and for their next assignment. The test results would be given first. The Doctor didn't want to see the look on Anakin's face when he was denied entry into the Jedi Order.
"We have reached a verdict on the future of Anakin's training," said Mace.
"And?" asked Qui-Gon expectantly. "Will he be trained?"
"No," was Mace's reply. "He will not be trained." The Doctor could sense both Anakin's disappointment and Qui-Gon's frustration.
"No?" asked Qui-Gon indignantly. "Why not? You've seen how powerful he can become."
"He is too old. To train him would be too great of a jeopardy to the Jedi Order," explained Mace.
"But he is the Chosen One," argued Qui-Gon. "You must see it!"
"His future, I will admit, is clouded," said the Doctor, finally bringing himself to speak in front of Anakin and Qui-Gon. "None of us could get a read on him." Qui-Gon then did something fitting to his label as a maverick Jedi.
"Then I will train him. I take Anakin as my Padawan learner," he announced, placing his hands on the young boy's shoulders.
"But, Master Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan is already your Padawan," said the Doctor, although he knew he could not shake Qui-Gon's will. "You can't just take on a second."
"The Code forbids it," Mace agreed.
"Obi-Wan has no more to learn from me," said Qui-Gon. "He is headstrong and has much to learn, but he is very capable. Capable enough to face the Trials."
"I am ready for the Trials," agreed Obi-Wan, who stepped up to stand alongside his Master. The Doctor was leery, to say the least, at this sudden declaration on both Qui-Gon's and Obi-Wan's parts. He couldn't help but wonder if Obi-Wan's sudden readiness for the Trials was at all influenced by Young Anakin Skywalker.
"We will keep our own counsel on who is ready for the Trials," said the Doctor cautiously. "I have no doubt in your abilities, Obi-Wan, but the Force will decide when you are ready."
"Now is not the time for these discussions," said Mace. "You have a new assignment. The Senate plans to elect a new Supreme Chancellor." The Doctor knew this to be true. Queen Amidala had called for a vote of no confidence in Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, and now there were three new candidates for the position of Chancellor: Senator Antilles of Alderaan, Senator Teem of Malastare, and Senator Palpatine of Naboo. The Doctor was fairly certain that Palpatine would be elected, and he would do so by playing the sympathy card due to the invasion.
"Queen Amidala plans to return to Naboo to repel the invasion of her people," Mace continued. "This will put pressure on the Trade Federation and it could widen the confrontation."
"And it could also draw out the Queen's attacker," added Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"You must go with the Queen to Naboo to find out the identity of your assailant," said Mace. "This is the key to figuring out the mystery of the Sith." As soon as Mace was done, the Doctor stood and joined Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin in the center of the chamber, much to the shock of everyone in the chamber.
"And, just to be safe, I'll go with you," said the Doctor. "I'd like to see this dark warrior for myself, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, Doctor. Your expertise is much appreciated," said Qui-Gon graciously, to which the Doctor flashed a quirky smile.
"You okay with this, Macey boy?" asked the Doctor. Mace looked a bit flustered and waved his hand in affirmation, and because he might have been too shocked to say or do anything else.
"Fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed, already getting excited to go back onto fighting grounds. "Well then, I suppose then this meeting is adjourned. May the Force be with you." He nodded towards the general direction of everyone in the room, dismissing them. As they began to rise and leave, the Doctor turned to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Anakin and flashed them another quirky smile.
"Well, come on, you lot," said the Doctor. "That's enough standing around for one night! We've got a Sith to catch!"
As the four were headed towards the landing pad with the Queen's ship, the Doctor could sense fear and perhaps even anger behind him, coming from Padawan Kenobi. He decided to pay no mind to it at the moment; he knew that it was centered around his master's sudden declaration of taking on another Padawan, especially one who seemed unfit to be trained by the Council. The Doctor could hear their conversation, and it was getting a bit heated.
"It's not some form of disrespect, Master," said Obi-Wan. "It's the truth."
"But only from your point of view, my young Padawan," countered Qui-Gon.
"The boy is dangerous, Master," Obi-Wan argued. "The Council can all sense it, so why can't you?" Despite his Padawan's shortening temper, Master Qui-Gon kept a level and calm tone.
"I have not met a single Jedi, even the highest Master, with a midi-chlorian level that could even nearly match this boy's. Let me worry about the dangers that could follow him; I am the one willing to train him. They are no concern of yours."
"But, Master-" Obi-Wan tried to explain, but Qui-Gon held up his hand to silence him and interrupted.
"There will be no more discussion of this. His fate is only uncertain, not dangerous. The Council will decide Anakin's fate later. Now, get on board," he said reprimandingly. In a massive amount of frustration, Obi-Wan bowed his head to his Master, and sulked off to the ship ahead of them. The Doctor could understand Obi-Wan's perspective very well, but again, decided to stay out of matters regarding Anakin for the time being. He walked over to Qui-Gon and patted his friend on the shoulder.
"He's a good Padawan," said the Doctor.
"Yes, he is," said Qui-Gon. "But I feel that he does not agree with some of my teachings."
"While he is indeed strong in the Force," the Doctor pointed out, "he is also slightly hard-headed. Then again, so are you, Master Qui-Gon. Even a bit reckless."
"Were you not the same, Doctor? At some point?" The Doctor gave Qui-Gon his signature smirk, with a little bit of a devious glint in his eyes.
"You speak as if my reckless days are in the past. I can assure you that they're not completely gone," the Doctor said, earning a similar smirk from Qui-Gon in response. They were just about to board the ship themselves when they heard young Anakin speak up beside them.
"Master Qui-Gon, sir," said the boy. "I don't want to be some sort of burden."
"No, Anakin, you're not a burden," said Qui-Gon, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with the boy. "The Council won't let me train you, so I want you to watch me very closely. Your focus determines your reality. Stay close to me and the Doctor here, and you'll be safe." Anakin then turned to the Doctor and posed a good question to him.
"Doctor, I heard you talking about midi-chlorians," he said. "What are midi-chlorians?" The Doctor knelt to Anakin in a similar fashion as Qui-Gon.
"Well, Anakin, midi-chlorians are curious little things," explained the Doctor. "To put it simply, they are a microscopic organism that reside within all living cells." Anakin didn't seem to believe the Doctor once he figured out what that meant.
"They live...inside me?" he asked.
"That's correct," said the Doctor. "And we are symbionts with these little organisms."
"Symbionts, Doctor?" Anakin asked again, slightly confused.
"Life forms that work together for a mutual advantage. You see, Anakin, without these little midi-chlorians in all of us, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continuously talk to us. And they tell us the will of the Force. When you quiet your mind, you might be able to hear them talking to you."
"But I don't understand, Doctor," said Anakin.
"You will, Anakin, with time and training," assured Qui-Gon. The Doctor nodded at Qui-Gon's words, deciding against saying anything else. As he hypothesized back in the Council meeting, he was proven correct here: nothing would be able to shake Qui-Gon's will to train this boy. And seeing this sort of dedication from Qui-Gon set the Doctor a bit more at ease, because he knew that even if the Sith were returning, Master Qui-Gon would do everything in his power to prevent young Anakin from falling to the lure of the Dark Side.
The Doctor and Qui-Gon then turned to greet Queen Amidala herself. The Doctor eagerly shook her hand.
"Hello," he said. "I'm the Doctor."
"Ah, yes," said the Queen. "The famous Doctor himself. I am glad to have such noble Jedi warrior protecting me in this dark hour."
"My lady, the Jedi are glad to be back in your service," said Qui-Gon.
"Senator Palpatine believes that the Trade Federation intends to destroy me," mused Amidala.
"I can assure you, my lady," said the Doctor. "That is not going to happen on our watch."
And as the Doctor, Qui-Gon, the Queen, and company entered the ship, the Doctor heard a rather annoying voice call out, "WEESA GOIN' HOOOOOOOME!"
The Doctor hoped that they weren't getting all excited just to find a Sith Lord waiting for them.
The man who was called Maul was meditating. He was meditating to pass the time between his previous mission and the next mission his Master would give him. He could sense that it was only a short amount of time before his Master would assign this next mission, and he anticipated it with bated breath. Soon, their plan would move into full swing, and he and his Master would stand together, vanquishing the Jedi in one fell swoop. Only one thing needed to be done.
The War. They needed to start the War.
Of course, doing that would be effortless for one as cunning as his Master. And with the foolish Jedi Order not even close to expecting their return, both he and his Master knew that the Jedi's ignorance would be the precursor to their downfall. Maul couldn't wait to smell the burnt flesh of a Jedi who had been cut in half by his blade.
"I see you are centering yourself in the Dark Side, my apprentice," a dark and raspy voice spoke from behind Maul. Maul grinned. His Master had arrived. He rose, walked towards the door of his meditation chamber, and knelt on one knee, head bowed in subjugation, before his Master.
"What is thy bidding, my Master?" he asked expectantly.
"There is a ship traveling to Naboo," the dark voice explained. "In this ship are the two Jedi you encountered in your previous task, as well as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order."
"The Doctor," Maul snarled.
"I expected the Jedi Master and his Padawan to accompany this journey," Maul's Master continued, the twisted delight dripping from his words, "but the foolish Doctor has also fallen for this trap as well. We have the Grand Master right in our hands, my apprentice. And I fully intend for you to annihilate him."
"As you command, Master," said Maul. "I shall save him for last. I will make him watch his friends suffer and die before making him take his last breath." Maul felt his Master's cold hand on his shoulder.
"Come," he commanded of Maul. "Rise and walk with me." Maul did as his Master commanded. His Master's black hooded figure led Maul out of his meditation room and into the corridor, looking over the metropolis below them.
"There is no doubt that this is your greatest task yet, my apprentice," Maul's Master said as he slowly walked along the corridor. "The Doctor is a very skilled Jedi Master. His quick wit is matched by the quickness of his saber, and he is strong in the Force. A compatible opponent for you, indeed. However, he is far too aware of his skill." He stopped to face out at the glass panel, facing the city, humming with life.
"His arrogance has dulled the sharpness of his abilities. As it is with all Jedi. They have been blinded with their own pride. I can assure you that this will be the cause of their defeat."
"We shall see to their end, my Master," said Maul.
"Do you see the creatures below, my apprentice?" his Master asked Maul, gesturing out the panel. "See how they all go about their daily lives with the seemingly blissful ignorance of safety. They believe that the Jedi is a strong unit, and it shall always stand as a pillar of guidance and safekeeping. This pillar of the Jedi Order has stood for far too long. For hundreds upon hundreds of years have the citizens below depended on the column of the Republic. But, what is true about every structure?"
"It must and will crumble eventually, my Master," answered Maul. With this, Maul could hear the sadistic smile beneath the shadowed hood as his Master spoke.
"Good. Very good," he commended Maul. "And the crumbling of this unit will begin as it does with every piece of architecture: the crack in the foundation. You, my apprentice, will begin the crumbling of the Jedi by extinguishing the Doctor, the foundation of the Order."
"I am honored by this task, Master," Maul said. "It will be done."
And there you have it! Chapter 3 and a little section with Darth Maul and his mysterious Sith Master. I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to review and favorite at your leisure!
I want to thank users zejaykay and StoriesUnleashed for their kind reviews. StoriesUnleashed in particular had a few questions/suggestions that I will answer/address here in this Author's Note. First up, the questions.
1. Will there be flashbacks/references to the Doctor's past lives? References: Yes. Flashbacks: That's a bit more difficult to answer, but the best answer I can give right now is sort of. Once the context of the story is established, you'll understand what I mean.
2. When, if ever, will the Doctor utter his famous phrase "Allons-y?" He actually will say it in Episode II, and he may or may not say it in Episode IV, but I haven't written that far yet, so I don't know for sure whether or not I will want him to say it then.
3. Why is the Doctor's species called Gallifreyan instead of Time Lord? I actually debated whether I wanted to call him a Time Lord or a Gallifreyan. I obviously ended up choosing "Gallifreyan" as his species name, and here's why. The Doctor, in this story, is limited to the temporal boundaries of the Star Wars universe, meaning no time travel. Calling him a Time Lord would imply that he can subvert this rule and has presumably done so in the past, which wouldn't really make a whole lot of sense given the previous context I established earlier in that he's unsure of whether or not the Sith still exist. If he could time travel, the Doctor could, at any conceivable point in his life, just go back to the aftermath of the Seventh Battle of Ruusan and kill Darth Bane before he found Darth Zannah, thereby eliminating the Sith for good and changing the entire Star Wars continuity in the process. Basically, I call him Gallifreyan because he is from Gallifrey and I want to keep the story as accurate to Star Wars lore as I possibly can.
4. Will there be a TARDIS? As I stated in my incredibly long answer to question 3, the Doctor cannot and does not, at any point in this story, travel through time. As the TARDIS is a time machine at its core, it will most likely not appear in the story. If it does make it in, however, it won't have time-travelling capabilities because, again, the Star Wars universe does not allow time travel.
5. Will the Doctor have a sonic screwdriver? As I mentioned in the author's note in the previous chapter, the Doctor's lightsaber hilts are the screwdrivers of Ten and Eleven, so I guess, technically, he has a sonic screwdriver. If you're wondering whether or not he will have an actual, legitimate screwdriver that acts like an actual, legitimate screwdriver, however, the answer is probably not.
StoriesUnleashed, you also had a few suggestions that I will address here. You thought that I should have the Master become the Emperor as opposed to Palpatine. While I can't do that because of the whole "keep-the-continuity" thing, I can tell you that I do allude to the Doctor's eternal nemesis when referring to Palpatine at one point in Episode III.
You also said I should have a companion be one of the Doctor's Padawans. Way ahead of you on this one. If you remember back to the prologue, I mention a Jedi character called Jennara Oswin. This character is essentially the Star Wars version of Clara Oswald, and she'll be introduced in Episode III. I also make a reference to Rory Williams in Episode II, as well as a reference to Rose Tyler in either Episode I or Episode II; I can't quite remember which.
You also said I should give the Doctor some Dark Side powers from his time spent fighting in the Time War. I sort of do this, but not in the way you'd expect. Once more of the story is established, you'll know what I mean.
StoriesUnleashed, I hope I answered your questions accurately. If you have more, please feel free to leave them for me in a review or in a private message. Same goes for any readers who have question for me about the story. That's about it for this author's note. Until the next chapter, my friends!