Star Wars 2.0

Episode 4: The Secret of Naboo

Chapter 1

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Obi-Wan Kenobi. He had sensed a disturbance in the force ever since they began their approach to the Neimoidian Federation star base. It was a dark cloud that enshrouded his mind; something he had to push through to think clearly. It had become ever stronger since they left the ship. And now, as he and his master were led into the small conference room, it felt even stronger.

"Felt it, too, have I," said Yoda, Obi-Wan's guide and master. He was much shorter; a small species with green skin, long, thin ears, and a squashed face. His skin was wrinkled with age, and he assisted his walking with a cane; though he hardly needed it. In truth, the cane was used more as a ruse to cause others to underestimate him than it was for any purpose to help him walk. He did not admit it, but he also carried it as a comfort. It reminded him how it felt to carry a lightsaber, something he never wielded anymore since his powers had exceeded the need to carry one. "Be conscious, and alert. But most of all, be patient, and feel what the force is telling you."

The duo walked further into the room, bypassing the table laid out for them with a tray of water and cups to look out the window at the planet Oresys beyond. It was one that belonged to the Neimoidian, a planet they had conquered eons before. The Jedi had no intention of convincing them to give it back to their original inhabitants. They were officially there to work out a trade dispute between the Neimoidian and another race which appeared to be heading toward war. Though this was a task the Jedi occasionally performed, it was not the true reason for Obi-Wan's and Yoda's appearance. They were here to investigate the Neimoidian, to try to understand the darkness that had been sensed among them by the Jedi Council.

When several minutes passed and it became clear they would be waiting a while, Yoda climbed onto the table, crossed his legs, and began to mediate, becoming one with the force swirling around him. Obi-Wan tried to remain as calm, but could not contain himself, and set about pacing the room like a caged lion. His occasional snorts were responded to with a word of "patience" from Yoda. After fifteen minutes, Obi-Wan felt like he was ready to burst, and Yoda could feel his frustration. He opened one eye to his Padawan. Obi-Wan, a young, fit man with the traditional braid hanging down the right side of his chest, felt the eye open and answered him before he could give the lecture. "Something is wrong. Otherwise they would have met us here."

Yoda would not argue this point with him. First, Obi-Wan was correct. Second, it mattered little in the grand scheme of the Force. "And so you punish the floor with your pacing," Yoda said. "Good. Had it coming, the floor did."

Obi-Wan got the hint. Yoda's mocking was more powerful than any reprimand. He tried to respond to his master, but his respect for the Deshko, and the fact that he had no intelligent come-back held his tongue. Obi-Wan instead sat in a chair and tried to relax. It seemed to put him at peace until, a few minutes later, he could be heard rocking back and forth in it. The joints of the chair clearly needed oiling.

Then a different noise entered the room and filled the Jedis' ears. It was a hissing sound coming from the wall. "Poison gas," Obi-Wan said, correctly identifying it.

Yoda nodded. "To the force you must give yourself," Yoda exclaimed, and he returned to his meditation, entering a deep trance. Obi-Wan did the same, kneeling on one knee, closing his eyes, and giving himself over to the force, but with one hand resting on his lightsaber attached to his belt.

Outside, two squads of bipedal droid were assembled. Their repeater blaster rifles were at the ready. The Master Control Droid signaled his instructions to the others in binary, his voice coming out in beeps and whistles. The others responded in kind and prepared themselves for the doors to open. The Master Control Droid sent the remote order for the door to open, and the blast doors swung wide.

Smoke poured out in such a strong wave that the droids had to switch to infrared to detect what was inside. They saw two figures, one humanoid size and one small, both standing. A moment later, a long, glowing blue stick was projecting from the hand of the tall one, and he emerged from the smoke hurtling through the air. His spread legs kicked back two of the droids before they even began firing. The others opened fire, and their shots knocked into the blue beam that was emerging from the metal hilt he held in both hands. They had been programmed to know this; a lightsaber. He used it in the way they were informed he would, deflecting all of their shots, some of them back into the droids who fired at him.

The other, smaller shadow had no such glowing beam weapon, and was a still target, standing in the room unmoving. Several of the droids fired at him. The small creature raised one hand, and their orange blasts sucked into his palm. They were pulled there, as if by gravity, and dissipated into nothing. He then raised his other hand, the one that had been holding his cane, and swept it side to side. The droids all dropped their weapons and suddenly clumped together, as though the air between them had been sucked out of the room. Some fell apart, others were dented. They were all helpless. The human then jumped nimbly around them, as if in a dance, swinging his lightsaber through their masses and tearing them in half.

When he was finished, Obi-Wan turned to his master, who was emerging from the smoke of the room, now carrying his cane rather than pretending to use it. "There will probably be more."

"Then we must be swift. Come, my padawan." Yoda disappeared into a green blur, streaking down the corridor. Obi-Wan followed, blending into a brown streak that followed after. The two cut down side passageways zigzagging through the star base. The few Neimoidian crew members who saw them coming made way by jumping into the nearest room.

Yoda emerged from his blur in the middle of a passageway looking at a door to his left. Obi-Wan emerged, reigniting his lightsaber. He knew that stronger security would be coming, and he covered both sides. "Is this the way to the bridge, Master?"

"No," Yoda said, scanning the door, feeling inside it with the Force to find the opening mechanism. "It is…" Yoda's sentence was cut short by the scraping metallic sounds of crab droids. Two of them were rolling into place on each side of them. They clamped down their legs about thirty yards from Obi-Wan and stood, engaging their personal shields.

"They're on both sides of me, Master, I don't know if I can hold them," Obi-Wan warned urgently.

Yoda had taught Obi-Wan to overcome his fear, but he was correct to recognize the danger. Yoda found what he needed, and unlocked the door with his mind. It lifted up into the ceiling, and he hurried through. Obi-Wan deflected the first blasts, which came at him in rapid succession. Some bounced back to the droids who fired them, and the shots soaked harmlessly into the light glow of the shield bubbles around them.

Yoda was immediately faced with about a half dozen of the skinny droids they had faced just outside the meeting room. They were standing on a catwalk platform with no railings that bridged over a deep interior chasm. The droids opened fire, and Yoda soaked their shots into his hand. He then swept his other hand as though dusting off a shelf, and all the droids but one flew off the sides. Yoda looked at the sole survivor incredulously, and it, seeing that the others had jumped off the side, leaving it alone with this monster, jumped off as well.

Yoda then turned to the door. Obi-Wan had his lightsaber up, prepared for the crab droids to follow them in. He stood near Yoda to deflect any shots that might go his way. Yoda stepped past him, both hands raised. As soon as the first two rolled into place just beyond the door, their legs stabbed into the ground. Yoda brought his hands together, and a shockwave emanated from them directed at the corridor. The two droids smashed into one another. Their metallic bodies crushed together, grinding their machinery, mashing until there was little left of each as individual droids. He then widened his arms and brought them together again, and the other two droids crashed into each other, grinding together in a pitiful whine, until there was no movement from them, and they dropped helplessly to the floor.

Without looking at his apprentice, Yoda passed by Obi-Wan and walked further onto the catwalk, saying, "Come, there is something you should learn." He approached an octagonal tower that stood next to the bridge. It had a thin walkway of its own that surrounded its circumference. Control panels stood on its sides at a comfortable level for Obi-Wan, though they were a reach for Yoda. "Have our ship in a tractor beam, they do," Yoda told him.

"You felt this?" Obi-Wan asked.

Yoda nodded. "All systems, a manual override, must have." He pointed at the control tower. "You try."

Obi-Wan switched off his lightsaber and concentrated on the top of the tower. He felt through its circuitry, allowing the Force to be his guide. He focused on the power of a tractor beam, and he felt himself drawn to a specific panel. "There," he said.

"Good," Yoda said proudly. He pointed his hand toward it, reached out through the Force, and turned down the power. He then flipped the necessary switches to turn off the beam, and to keep it off. A Neimoidian would have to personally come down here to turn it back on, not send one of their robots; and they would have to brave the possibility of meeting one of the Jedi. And so Yoda was confident they would be safe. "Come," Yoda said. "For us it is time to leave and make our report to the Jedi Council."

"But what about the control room?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously.

"What about it?" Yoda asked.

"Aren't we going to…" Obi-Wan trailed off, thinking of his words. He didn't think he'd even need to tell Yoda. "Master, we can't let them get away with such an outrage. They attacked two representatives of the Jedi Council…"

"Judged they will be, in time," Yoda said. "But seek not vengeance in anger. That leads to the dark side of the Force."

Obi-Wan took in a breath and closed his eyes momentarily to regroup before opening them again. "Yes, Master Yoda."

Yoda watched his apprentice a moment to make certain he took heed of his words. When he was satisfied, he nodded. A couple more droids tried to enter the room, and without looking at them, Yoda raised a hand and Force pushed them out into the hall where they shattered against the wall. "One day, a great master will you make, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Thank you, Master," Obi-Wan said with a slight grin across the side of his face. Then the two Jedi turned to the corridor and headed toward the hangar to get to their ship.