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Entry XV

"Battle Plans and Preparations"

Part 2 of 3

Panaka made haste in reassuring us that they had not been detected, or at least he didn't believe so. As it turned out, most of the Naboo were heaped together in detention camps. Most Gungans had slipped past the Federation's defenses; a decent number of Naboo guards and officers had managed to form an underground movement. Suddenly I found myself respecting the Naboo all the more: it had taken true courage to do what they did, and a few hundred extra capable troops were better than nothing at all. But would it be enough? We wouldn't know until the Queen informed us of her plan, and our worst fears were confirmed when Panaka explained that the Federation's army was much larger and stronger than first expected. Amidala and Boss Nass, however, had placed great faith in the Gungan army. Years of training taught me not to make visible contact with Master that might reflect doubt, but I still couldn't help feeling trepidation over the situation.

As usual, Panaka felt the same. He, however, did not hesitate to say so. The dark-skinned man shook his head gravely. "Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think we can win," he said, imploring his Queen to reconsider. But if I had learned only one thing about Padmé Amidala, it was that she could be just as obstinate as any being I had ever encountered.

The battle was not explicitly meant to be a success, she explained. It was a diversion.

For what the Queen plans to accomplish.

Yes, Padawan, exactly. She will not make our job easy, I am afraid.

Further explanation—with a little help from R2-D2, provided the necessary details: use the palace's secret passageways to get just outside the palace. Get to the main entrance and allow Panaka to provide a safe diversion, then enter the palace and capture the viceroy; without him the troops and lower-ranking Neimodians would be utterly helpless.

A decent plan not without its faults, but then again, no plan ever was. Only—

"What do you think, Master Jedi?"

Amidala turned to Master and I felt more than saw him straighten himself further, thus giving him a larger, more commanding stature. I'd seen him do this often in the past 12 years; deep inside, something was bothering him, but with his hands hidden in his cloak sleeves and his own steely calm game-face in place, Qui-Gon looked for all the world like worry was the last thing on his mind…or even like he didn't care at all. Beside me I felt Anakin stir, whether from boredom or excitement it was hard to tell. Regardless, his constant shift in attention from Qui-Gon and myself to the Queen was rather blatantly obvious. I was tempted to give him a nudge with my boot to redirect his attention, but the boy was not my responsibility; he was not expected to act as a Jedi student his age would. And I knew that before I could admonish someone else for not paying attention, I had to be alert to the situation myself. So I listened…and I bit my tongue as an obedient Padawan should.

"The viceroy will be well guarded." Master spoke the words calmly and gently, but there was nothing calm nor gentle about the entire situation. Didn't they realize—

"The difficulty is getting into the throne room."

Well, yes, Panaka. But there was something even more vital than that. Had they not considered that—

"There is a possibility, with this diversion, many Gungans will be killed."

I let my eyes follow Qui-Gon's to stare into Boss Nass' bulbous face. The Gungans were ready to play their part, but that still did not cover the worry that had formed in my mind. Everything that had been said so far was wise and well thought out, but they were still missing one thing. I watched as Padmé Amidala nodded and opened her mouth to speak. Maybe the third time would be the charm; maybe they had figured out the most important thing.

"We will send what pilots we have to knock out the droid control ship orbiting the planet."

No! Important, yes, but not the most important. They still hadn't figured it out! Slowly, I could feel the perfect Padawan seep away and become replaced instead with Obi-Wan, the still headstrong and impatient pupil of Master Jinn.

The Queen found Master's eyes again, asking for opinions. Qui-Gon gave it without hesitation.

"A well-conceived plan," he praised, and truly it was. Most royalty I had met through the years would never have been able to concoct such a strategy by themselves. "However, there's great risk."

Finally—a voice of reason! Leave it to Master to know just what was on my mind.

"The weapons on your fighters may not penetrate the shields."

No—! Sithspit—! That wasn't it, either! Why hadn't anyone else thought of what I had?

"A Jedi must be able to think on his or her feet. Do not let other's negativity pull you down. Believe in your ideas and follow through with them."

"Trust in your instincts."

"I value your thoughts, Obi-Wan. Learn to speak your mind. You are an adult now, not a child; beings are more likely to listen when you speak."

Masters Yoda and Qui-Gon were right. After all, hadn't Qui-Gon been encouraging me to voice my opinion more frequently during the past few years? Especially recently? While I hadn't realized it at the time, I saw now that he was preparing me for my solo missions after my soon-to-be knighting.

If Master was placing that much trust in me to speak opinions that were reasonable and justifiable, then I would not let him down. Pouncing on the immediate silence after Qui-Gon spoke, I laid our biggest concern down on the table.

"There's an even bigger danger. If the viceroy escapes, Your Highness, he will return with another droid army. Whatever else happens, you must capture him."

Satisfaction and pride wafted through the Master/Padawan bond. Qui-Gon almost seemed to be teasing, "Took you long enough" and I realized he'd been waiting for me to speak up this entire time.

Across the dirty speeder nose, Padmé Amidala finally looked me in the eye.

On her face was the same expression she had given me when we talked that night on the ship, en route to Coruscant. I set my lips in a thin, straight line and watched as the Queen did the same.

"Indeed, we must," she concurred. "Cut off the head and the serpent dies. Without the viceroy, the Trade Federation collapses and that is why we must not fail to get the viceroy. Everything depends on it."

Indeed, Padmé Amidala...

To be continued in Part 3...

Apologies for posting this late. This week I am experiencing the wonders of my first midterms in college. 6.6 Keels over

Ahem...anyway...This chapter was a little boring as it was mostly the battle planning and no action. Sorry about that. There's nothing really new with the story news as far as I can recall, unless you want to count the fact that when I initially typed this story from the rough draft, I saved it to a disk and the disk ended up going corrupt on me. Luckily I had printed it out so I just retyped everything by using the printout. Unfortunately I lost a lot of work on my original story that I'm writing and I didn't have a printout for that. It depressed me for a day or so, but I always believe that things happen for a reason, so...

Thank you as always to Katieelessar! You're probably the most faithful reader and reveiwer that I've ever had for any story, and I really appreciate it. Getting a review from you always brightens my day. :-) Desperation for Obi-Wan sounds good. I'll have to make sure to get nice and sulky before I write the DotF entry, lol.

Well hello, Lindele! You aren't the only one who gets choked up around the death scene. For a moment there after reading your review, I was very tempted to write Obi-Wan running faster. But I can't do that! Grr! I'll figure out something though that should make the chapter all worthwhile for everyone.

Hi there, miss kilis wale! Great minds think alike, don't they? LOL Now, if only Scholastic had figured that out. You know, considering how well the Jedi Apprentice series did, you'd think they would have issued an Obi-Wan journal. I'd be afraid to know how much they would want to edit my version, however, if they decided to ever use it. (Fat chance of that happening, but I can always dream... ) I'm not entirely sure what material from AotC and RotS you're talking about for Qui-Gon, but I'd love to know! It intrigues me and I'm sure it would add to the story, so fill me in:-)

That's all for now. Quick reminder that next week's part will be posted on a Monday because I will be out of town until late Sunday for a horse show. Everything should hopefully get back on track after that so that posts can once again resume on Sundays. Thanks everyone! MTFBWY,

---Marie K.

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