The same chamber housing the droids, where Padme, Artoo, and I had talked before, ended up being the meeting place for Qui-Gon's ordered debriefing. Anakin had fallen asleep in his launch seat, and after a hurried conference about childhood and parental responsibilities, Qui-Gon had agreed to let us exclude him for now. It was therefore a group of five - me, Qui-Gon, Shmi, Padme, and R2D2 - that met in the closed room to discuss the future.

"Let's start at the beginning," the disguised queen said as she poked at holoprojection that the droid deployed into the air. "You've sorted things into three major lines. Vader, the Clone Army, and the Empire." She waited for my assent. "Vader is Anakin. And… Senator Amidala is who, exactly?"

"You," I said simply

"Marriage?" she objected.

"In ten years," I pointed out.

"To Anakin," she clarified, looking to Shmi for her reaction. She blinked, not quite keeping up with the subject yet.

**High reproductive compatibility at projected ages,** Artoo offered.

The other humans looked to the droid, and then to me to translate.

"He said that when you're twenty-four and he's nineteen, you'd probably be able to have children."

"Twins, if I'm reading this right," she observed. That was three years later (the length of time between Episodes Two and Three), but I didn't point that out. "And that's the end of it. They die too?"

I shook my head. "No. But the point of this record is the lead up to the creation of Vader. I'm outlining the events that push and cement his fall. Your children grow up to do great things in my future visions, but they are fighting their father every step of the way."

"Now, wait," Shmi finally spoke up. "This is about what happens to my Annie? On whose say?"

"These are Obi-wan's visions," Qui-Gon explained. "Nobody is saying that they want these things to happen, or even that they should happen. The Force has shown these things to him, for whatever purpose." He looked around the room, seeing that he had captured each of our attention. "We are not bound to the visions, nor do they control us. But we should at least understand them as a cautionary tale, if nothing else."

"Okay, but…" Shmi continued to have difficulty articulating her concerns, "... in these dreams, Anakin dies? In ten years?"

"No, you die in ten years," I corrected. My Master shot a scolding glance at me, but I pressed on. "Padme dies in childbirth thirteen years from now, which is also when Anakin becomes a Sith Lord."

"Darth Vader." Padme shuddered as she pronounced the name. It has its own power.

"H-how… do I die?" Shmi's voice was faint.

"I'm… not sure that's important anymore," I began, looking to Qui-Gon. "In the visions, we weren't able to bring you with us when we left Tatooine, and you died there. So we've already changed -"

"Tusken raiders; that makes sense." Shmi wasn't interested in my skirting around the issue; she was now up with Padme, scrutinizing my visual representation of the text.

"So, next question," Padme inhaled deeply, as Shmi continued to read. "What happens if I just… don't? What if I choose not to marry the man who kills me and becomes the galaxy's biggest monster?"

I exchanged a glance with Qui-Gon, then shook my head. "I really don't know. My visions don't update based on the changes we make; I know the one possible future and that's it."

"You're not going to tell me that I must love him? The Republic is at stake? Or that it's inevitable?" She was genuinely surprised.

"I don't have any reason to believe that is the case. In fact, for all I know, rebuffing his advances might be the best way to sidestep this whole mess." I caught her eyes. "But I do need you to understand something important.

"What is it?"

"In this future, you did love him. He cherished you. And if he hadn't been driven to the Dark Side, I don't see any reason to doubt that you would have been happy."

She blushed. It was an overwhelming thing to tell a fourteen-year-old girl; to claim foreknowledge of a romance of just the sort they dream about. But this was not a flailing teenager; this was an elected representative of a planetary culture. She deserved to know.

"All these threads between Annie and the Clone Army," Shmi said. "A Republic military group?"

"Yes, and then an Imperial one. Artoo, move to the Kamino line, please." I gestured as the projection shifted. "Master Sifo-Diyas was ejected from the Jedi Council for insisting, based on his own future visions, that the Republic needs to build an army to handle what is coming. Sometime soon, he's going to commission millions of clones from the Kaminoans."

"The Council would not stand for that," Qui-Gon insisted.

"They aren't told," I explained. "Sifo-Diyas vanishes, and I discover the full-grown army just in time for the Republic to use them in the war."

"So," Shmi asked, "what were you planning to do? Stop the clones from being grown?"

I looked to Qui-Gon as I answered. "My plan was, believe it or not, to bring the Jedi Masters I trust to Kamino to decide what to do."

"Who, exactly?" my Master asked wryly.

"Yoda, Windu, Dooku, Fisto. And you, of course."

Qui-Gon nodded and didn't offer any comment; I inferred that he agreed with my list. This seemed as good a time as any to bring up my counterpoint to his other order.

"There's a reason I wanted to deal with these issues using a small group of trusted Masters and Knights, and not the full Council," I began. "The Sith are among us, and well hidden."

"The Dark Jedi?" from Shmi again.

"You believe they may be on the Council," Qui-Gon asked, but it wasn't a question. "Your visions didn't include them? Their identities?"

"No, they did," I insisted. "But I can't remember those events. My mind draws a blank when I try to access them, which is why I strongly believe the Sith are already active."

"This is another reason to go to the Council," Qui-Gon pointed out. "If it's true that you have this knowledge but it has been blocked, there are experts in matters of the mind that may be able to help you."

"If you are being blocked from matters having to do with the Sith, how is it that you remember Darth Vader?" Padme asked.

I sighed, frustrated at how many of my answers were just guesses. "I don't think Anakin is currently part of their plan. His rise and eventual fall was unplanned - except maybe by the Force itself." I stroked at my beard again. "Or maybe he is so much a part of the Force that he can't effectively be hidden." I gestured to the holo. "Concern that I might lose more of what I have learned, is the main reason I created an external record of it. If I ever review this, and find pieces I don't remember putting in, there's a good chance that the mind clouding influence has expanded to cover them."

Shmi continued to shift through different parts of the projection. "The gaps in your memory seem to be particularly bad over here in this section on the Galactic Empire. What are these three structures here?"

"My best ideas for how the Republic could transition into an Empire." I took control of the holo and displayed each of the three in sequence. "These are based on historical precedent as much as anything else: how individual planetary republics have fallen in the past. The first is that Chancellor Valorum or his successor is voted emergency powers and keeps them. The second is a coup by the Jedi Council, abolishing the Senate and ruling either directly or through a figurehead. The third is a military coup, if the military ends up under the control of someone other than the Jedi or the Chancellor."

"None of these are feasible," Padme pointed out. "Most Republic worlds, including Naboo, don't want to see a strong centralized government. Any posturing in that direction would be political suicide."

Qui-Gon disagreed. "That may be true today, but when planets are embroiled in war, many forego freedom for security." His gaze turned to me, thoughtful. "The Sith always thrived in an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, we are taught."

"If it's all guesswork," Padme pressed, "what's your plan?"

"Oppose anything that looks like a power grab, and investigate anyone who pushes for one." I faced Padme more directly. "Your own Senator, Sheev Palpatine, has been extremely helpful in this. Also Senator Organa from Alderaan, who became the adoptive father to your daughter in my visions. He helped me put together the committee sent to inspect the blockade."

"Focusing on the immediate future," Qui-Gon said, "what happens to us next, as you remember it?"

"Amidala pleads her case in the Senate, while you introduce Anakin to the Council. They refuse him training -"

"Wait," Shmi interrupted. "The Jedi Council wouldn't train Anakin?"

"He was overwhelmed by fear for you, left on Tatooine."

"A nine-year-old newly separated from his mother… that disqualified him?" She was indignant on behalf of her boy.

Qui-Gon admitted, "Their approval was always a long-shot. The Council is, by definition, the most long-standing and orthodox of the Order, and Anakin is older than is usually permitted." His eyes were on the projection, but his sight was elsewhere. "Still, I was confident they would see what I see, until Obi-wan explained otherwise."

Shmi pushed, "What is it that you see?"

"A legend," there was an undercurrent of pride and wonder in his voice. "The fulfillment of a prophecy. The restoration of balance." He glanced sideways at me. "I am less certain, now."

"He is all those things," I assured my Master. "But first and foremost? He is a boy. In need of love, guidance, protection, support." I nodded to Shmi. "And of opportunities to grow and learn." I nodded to Qui-Gon.

"After that, Anakin and I return to Naboo and defeat the droid army, freeing the planet." Padme announced. "Without you two?" The question was skeptical.

"Unclear. I think we accompany you, but our role in the battle…" My mind strained, and I could see scenes before and after that included us, but nothing during the altercation itself. "We may have been doing something else. Uncovering some part of the plots hidden to me, perhaps."

Shmi squinted at the holo. "Anakin… and R2D2…" an acknowledging chirp from the droid "... steal a fighter and destroy the droid control ship." She glared at me. "He's nine."

I shrugged. "He has superhuman reflexes, and more time in a cockpit than many fighter pilots."

**R2D2 qualifications exceed requirements for combat operation of skirmish vehicle. Sufficient compensation: low-skill, not mature biological component.**

I translated, "Artoo says he can keep Anakin safe."

**Negation. Poor translation.**

"If you want to tell them yourself, we'll get you a voice module."

**Negation. Biological-type speech adaptation modifies logical processing. Efficiency reduction. Do not want.**

I nodded.

"So what happens," Shmi asked, "if Anakin doesn't go to Naboo? Things have already changed, yes? There's no guarantee he'd survive taking part in a space battle again."

They looked to me for the answer, and yet again, all I could do is shrug. "As long as Padme manages to recruit the Gungans, I think the outcome will be the same."

"That reminds me. Who is Jar Jar Binks?" Padme inquired.

"A Gungan. In my vision, he accompanied us on this trip, and then showed you the location of the hiding Gungan population when you returned to Naboo." At her concerned gaze, I added, "The coordinates of the Gungan sacred swamp site, and a written description of exactly what you said and did in the vision to earn the Gungans' cooperation, are both recorded in the data."

"Is this another example," Qui-Gon asked, "of an entity whose choices you have taken, Obi-wan? A living being from whom we have no chance to learn, and to whom we cannot extend our own presence or experiences?"

"I… yes, Master." It felt like a good time to just admit what I had done, rather than try to justify it.

Qui-Gon stood. "That was… even more than I had anticipated, and I recognize there is much more. But perhaps we should take some time to contemplate what has been said so far." He placed a hand fondly on the top of Artoo's chassis. "You will supply us each with a copy of this recording?" When I nodded, he responded with a nod of his own, to the whole room, and unsealed the door. He turned and headed for the pilot's cabin.

Shmi and Padme were still looking over the timelines, discussing details of upcoming events, when I left the room for the passenger's cabin.