Chapter 1
Qui Gon Jinn stalked back towards where the ship was parked outside of Mos Espa. He carried with him the weight of several dozen banthas pressing down on his spirit.
He had told the boy he'd be free.
He had argued against the boy's mother.
He had encouraged the boy to race.
The flare of the boy's death hit harder than his mother's slap.
Qui Gon wouldn't be this upset about it, except for the fact that the Force was screaming, as if the boy's death was not in accordance with the Force's will.
He had called ahead to have Obi Wan begin removing the Queen's possessions from the ship. The Toydarian would be by soon to claim his ship.
In tow, was followed by the Queen's sobbing handmaiden, Padme Naberrie, and the klumsy Gungan, Jar Jar Binks.
How could he have been so wrong about the boy? He had sensed the strength in Anakin. The boy was obviously destined for-
Danger!
Qui Gon spun around unclipping his lightsaber at the appearance of a viciously tatooed Zabrak coming at him and his companions on a speeder bike.
Padme and Jar Jar dove out of the way as the speeder tore between them. With a leap, the Zabrak left the speeder drawing a lengthy handled lightsaber.
The Jedi met the assailant mid-air, his green blade clashing against the Zabrak's crimson.
Qui Gon ducked several slashes before leaping away again. This Zabrak was too good. As Qui Gon landed he found himself pressed to parry immediately, finding himself just barely able to keep with the pace of this fight. Three quick jabs from his assailant forced Qui Gon to do another back flip to regroup his attack efforts. Mid-backflip Qui Gon stiffened one leg and knocked the Zabrak back.
Upon landing, Qui Gon repositioned for a more aggressive attack and the Zabrak prepared himself for the assault. Quigon attacked high and fast, forcing his enemy back more with each attack. As the Zabrak attempted a quick thrust, Qui Gon parried it and jabbed a small hole through the Zabrak's shoulder.
Other than a wince, the Zabrak made no notice of the breach of his defenses. His fighting actually seemed to gather momentum. Qui Gon's attack failed to slow as he continued to press his advantage. As he forced the Zabrak to tighten his defenses, the Zabrak started to smile.
With a fast parry followed by a kick, the Zabrak brought some distance between himself and Qui Gon. With this distance, Qui Gon could sense the shift in the advantage before he saw it.
The long handle of the Zabrak's lightsaber, ignited on the other end as well. The double-bladed weapon would definitely stregthen the Zabrak's attack. Qui Gon gathered the Force to himself as the Zabrak moved to attack.
With the speed of the attack, as well as the added danger of the double-bladed weapon, Qui Gon could sense the destination of this confrontation and quickly reached out with his mind summoning aid from Obi Wan. The aid wouldn't arrive soon enough.
Qui Gon was quickly losing the advantage. As the Zabrak pressed, Qui Gon found he couldn't continue a fight against two blades. As the Jedi Master through his blade back to protect his back, he found he couldn't return the blade to his front soon enough to stop the mext swing. The thrust of the blade through his abdomen was colder than Qui Gon expected it to be.
As the Zabrak removed his blade and shut down his lightsaber, Qui Gon noticed that he showed no attributes of having just been in battle. The Zabrak walked away towards Padme, who lay on the ground screaming, tears streaming down her face.
Jar Jar moved to defend her, and a Force shove threw him yards away. The Zabrak grabbed her.
"Where is the Queen?"
Padme simply continued to cry. Ignoring the person who was holder her by her throat.
"Where is the Queen?" he was shouting now, and Padme continued to ignore him.
"Very well." Qui Gon watched as the Zabrak raised his hand over her eyes and focused his attention towards the handmaiden. She let out a scream, not of terror this time, but of pain. He laughed a wicked laugh and dropped Padme into the sand. Turning back to Jar Jar he stated, " Tell them what happened here. I will be on Naboo."