Author Notes: Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Originally, Chapter 9 and 10 were one chapter, but it made more sense to split them up. However, I still posted them at the same time for you.

Chapter 9: I Eavesdrop on an Evil Lord

Of course, when I finally did fall asleep, I had another dream. This one was normal, or as normal as demigod dreams can be.

I think I was on one of the space ships in the blockade because I could see those saucer shaped ships and Naboo through the window. Three beings were talking at a black table. One of them was a glowing hologram of a man totally rocking the Ghost of Christmas Future/dementors/scary riders from Lord of the Rings look with dark robes and a hood hiding his face. The other two reminded me of house flies with their big red eyes, grey-green skin, bulbous forehead, and nose-less faces.

Apparently, they were discussing our earlier escape from the blockade, and the hologram man who the others called "my lord," was not pleased. He snarled, "I want that contract signed!"

The insect men winced, and the braver one groveled, "But my lord, the ship is out of range. It is impossible to track now."

"Not for a Sith," the lord smugly replied.

Then, another man-shaped hologram appeared. This new guy just looked like bad news. He also wore a dark hood and robe, but I could see his scowling face a little too well for my comfort. His face was covered in strange markings, and he glared with that I-will-destroy-you look. "This is my apprentice, Darth Maul," the lord said, "He will find the ship." I shivered when I realized that he would be the one hunting us down, and those glaring, hate filled eyes haunted the rest of my dreams.

I woke up to Annabeth shaking my shoulder in the artificial light of the space ship. Immediately, I sat up, muscles tensing, and looked for a threat, "What's wrong?"

"At the moment, nothing," she said as she wrapped her arm around me, and I relaxed into her touch. "But, based on your sleep talking I think we have trouble on the way. What is a Sith?"

I frowned, "I don't know. I was hoping you would."

She sighed, "I guess we'll just add it to the list of things we don't know. So, what did you dream about this time?"

After I described my dream, she scrunched her face up with worry. "This is not good."

"Yeah, we have scary Mr. Scowly looking for us. I swear his eyes glowed with evilness even though I guess his whole body was glowing since it was a hologram."

"He might cause trouble, but there is a bigger problem," Annabeth stated.

"Bigger than an evil guy hunting us down?" I asked.

"Yes, what you saw in your dream. . . it means that the Trade Federation is not acting alone and may even just be following orders. Someone else, whoever that 'lord' is wanted Naboo invaded and the occupation legalized by the treaty for some reason. So, when Queen Amidala goes before the Galactic Senate to ask for aid, she could be blocked and blindsided by an unknown enemy. Based on his secrecy and use of the Trade Federation, this lord probably works in the shadows by manipulating other factions, so it could be anyone."

"Oh, that would be bad," I agreed. How Annabeth's mind worked, would never cease to amaze me. My Wise Girl could take a few details that just seemed random or unimportant to me, and she would connect them to reveal our enemy's strategy, or a hint in a prophecy, or a way to defeat an opponent. After she explained it, I would always feel a little stupid for not seeing it before, but I guess when your mom is the goddess of wisdom and strategy, identifying and analyzing other people's strategies would come easy to you.

"We need to warn them: the queen, Panaka, and maybe the Jedi, but I don't know how," she grumbled in frustration, "It's not like back home where we can just say, 'Oh, Percy had a dream guys.' Here, they have no reason to believe us that our dreams are real."

"Maybe, we can warn them without telling them about the dream," I mused. "You know a little hint here and a suggestion there until they figure out what's going on. You're really good at stuff like that, Wise Girl. Plus, we know about it, so we can keep an eye out for extra danger and try to figure out who this lord is. It's not like this is the first time we've dealt with an evil lord though hopefully this one isn't immortal. Once we have enough evidence, we can go straight to Panaka and the queen."

Annabeth gave me a surprised look and then smiled, "Oh my gods, did you actually come up with a cautious, well-thought-out plan, Seaweed Brain?"

"Well, I do have this amazing girlfriend, and after six years, my seaweed brain managed to pick up a thing or two that she tried to beat into it," I replied with a smirk. She just laughed and gave me a kiss.

We decided that our first step should be figuring out what a Sith was since that could be a major clue in identifying the mystery lord. But, after searching the HoloNet and our stolen education curriculum on Daedalus 2.0, we found nothing. "Gods, I think I would subject myself to an Aphrodite cabin makeover, if it meant I could have internet in this place," Annabeth groaned, "Since this HoloNet is predominantly based on news, it doesn't really have general information or any history. I'm not even sure what we need to hack to find it."

"Why don't we just ask Panaka if he knows? Maybe Sith is like a slang word for a scientist or a spy or whatever can track a space ship easily," I suggested.

Annabeth frowned, "It's worth a shot, I suppose. And, if he gets suspicious we can just say we heard the term somewhere."

After enjoying a late breakfast in the mess hall, we found Panaka in a room with lots of monitors looking over charts with the Jedi. With a look, a nod, and a few smiles, we communicated that Annabeth would do the talking and that I trusted and loved her.

Panaka turned towards us as we entered and gave us a small smile, "I was starting to get worried that you both disappeared. We should reach Tatooine in a few hours." Good, I was starting to get a little stir-crazy. Not that space travel wasn't extremely cool because it was. But, actually being stuck on a spaceship was not. My excessive energy was starting to annoy Annabeth while she researched.

Annabeth returned his smile and said, "We just found a quiet room and were using my computer to look at some things. Earlier today, we came across a term we didn't recognize. We searched the HoloNet for more information but couldn't find any other reference to it. So, we started thinking it might be a colloquialism and wanted to ask you. Do you know what a Sith is?" As soon as she said the word, the response was immediate. Panaka's eyes widened and looked to the Jedi, who both immediately stiffened and spun around to stare at us.

"Where did you hear that word?" Qui-Gon calmly demanded, but his piercing blue eyes looked worried.

Annabeth looked shocked at the reactions to her question but managed to reply, "We found it on my computer. It's from my home planet and tends to be able to gather information from the HoloNet and other sources better than your computers can." I thought that was a very smart and believable answer. By revealing some of Daedalus 2.0 capabilities, Annabeth had supplied an explanation just in case it was common knowledge that the HoloNet never used the word Sith.

Unfortunately, Qui-Gon did not agree. He frowned closed his eyes for a few seconds before turning them back to Annabeth at full force. "That is a lie," he stated, "please, tell me the truth. It is very important."

Now, Annabeth was truly speechless as she gaped at the Jedi, so I decided to take over the conversation. "Well, sorry for lying and all, but we figured you would be more likely to believe the lie than the truth."

Qui-Gon's lips twitched into a smile, "But you will never know what we will believe unless you tell us. I have found over the years that I tend to have a more open mind than most people. You can trust us."

I wasn't sure about trusting people that belonged to a mystic space police cult, but I didn't see many options other than to tell them about my dream since they seemed to have an automatic lie detector. I looked at Annabeth, and she gave me a small nod. "Okay then," I said, "I heard this hologram guy say the word Sith in my dream last night." I waited for the gasps of denial, or a laugh, or a 'your crazy and need to be locked up' comment.

Instead, I saw Panaka frowning, and the Jedi shared a look before Qui-Gon asked, "Could you please describe everything you remember about this dream?" That definitely was not the reaction I was expecting. Qui-Gon might as well have been Chiron calmly asking about one of my dreams back at Camp Half-Blood for all the surprise he showed.

"You. . . actually believe me?" I stuttered out in my shock, looking at Qui-Gon.

"Yes, though your intentions are even more difficult to gleam than your friend's, I can sense the truth around your words in the Force, barely, but it is still there. Also, it is rather common for Jedi and other Force-sensitives to have dreams, or visions if you prefer that term, of the past and future. Do you have these dreams often?"

"Uh," I said rather intelligently, "I did have these sort of dreams back on my home world a lot, but I hadn't had any since we arrived on Naboo until the night before the droids invaded."

"And do your dreams usually predict the future and come to pass?" Qui-Gon inquired.

I frowned at that, "Usually, I dream more about the present though I do sometimes dream about past events as well. I don't really trust any visions I have of the future because they are usually sent by–"

Before I could finish my sentence, Annabeth cut me off, "What Percy means is that the visions he receives of the future usually show the worst-case scenario, and luckily, we have always been able to make sure that doesn't happen." Oops, I was so shocked that I was even talking about demigod dreams, that I almost slipped up and mentioned angry immortals which would have led to even more difficult questions. "But," Annabeth continued, "in the six years I've known him, Percy's dreams of the present have never been wrong."

Qui-Gon frowned at that, "Do you have these dreams as well?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied, "though not as frequently as Percy. I like to think I have more control over my mental capabilities even subconsciously. I haven't had any since we arrived on Naboo though. Percy, go ahead and tell them about both dreams."

I gave Annabeth a smile. "Guess this was as easy as back home, and all we needed to do to warn them was say, 'Oh, Percy had a dream, guys." Annabeth just rolled her eyes and gave me a playful shove. Then, I told everyone about my latest dreams.

When I was done, Panaka, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon looked very worried. "That is most troubling, indeed," Qui-Gon stated.

Annabeth asked, "Do any of you know who this lord could be that is either giving orders to the Trade Federation or is at least allied with them? Who else would benefit from the Federation occupying Naboo?"

"Those are very perceptive questions, young lady," Qui-Gon said sounding impressed, "but sadly I do not have any answers. It does explain the Trade Federations uncharacteristically aggressive actions. Captain, do you know of anything?"

"I'm not sure," Panaka frowned, "Naboo is a peaceful planet, so we do not have any major enemies. Even the parties that attempted to assassinate King Veruna could not pull off something this big. I must inform the Queen immediately."

Before he could leave, Annabeth said, "I'll come too since I am the only member of her advisory staff present, even if I am just an assistant."

As they left, Annabeth whispered, "Try to find out as much as you can," before kissing my cheek.

Once again Obi-Wan looked uncomfortable at the display of affection while Qui-Gon just looked amused. "Master, we should inform the Council. They will want to hear mention of this Sith, immediately," Obi-Wan stated.

"Yes, they will, but unfortunately with both the Trade Federation and a Sith trying to find us, any transmission to the Council would be too risky. We will have to wait until we arrive at the Temple" Qui-Gon replied.

"Excuse me, now that you guys are all caught up with what Annabeth and I know and how, can someone just please explain what a Sith is?" I asked.

Qui-Gon gave me that smile again. It was starting to get annoying because it was like he was smiling at a joke that only he knew. "I highly doubt that we are caught up with what you and Annabeth know, particularly about who you are, where you come from, and your similarities and differences to Force-sensitives, but I suppose we can have that discussion at another time," Qui-Gon said before explaining, "The Sith are the ancient enemies of the Jedi. They are trained Force-sensitives like Jedi, but they are driven by anger, greed, and hate and will stop at nothing to gain power. They also go by the title of Sith Lord which could mean this man, the viceroy called lord, is also a Sith. However, according to Jedi records, the Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

"Oh, they sound like nice guys," I said sarcastically, "glad we have one of them after us." Though I was really thinking, here we go again, because these Sith sounded exactly like every Titan and Giant I ever faced, minus whatever this Force was. Hopefully, they didn't have the power of immortals as well because that would really suck. "What is this Force you guys keep mentioning?"

"I think that also is a discussion for another time because I'm sure Annabeth would also like to hear it," Qui-Gon replied. When I groaned in frustration and rolled my eyes, he just did that smile again and said, "Patience, young one." Realizing I wouldn't get any more answers out of the Jedi without having to provide some answers for them as well, I headed back to Annabeth's and my unofficial room to wait.

Annabeth found me an hour or so later. I have no idea how I managed to not break anything or blow up the ship in my boredom. "Come on," she said excitedly as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out the room, "I heard a pilot say we should be landing soon."

While we walked towards the cockpit, I told her about the Sith and asked her how her meeting with Queen Amidala went. "Well, she believes us and is taking this threat pretty seriously. We spent most of the time speculating who either has a grudge against the Naboo or would gain the most from the invasion. Even though the circumstances are not ideal, it's nice to be taken seriously. The Naboo are wise to recognize good insight no matter who says it. Back home, outside of our world, adults would always disregard what I said because of my age."

"I guess that is a benefit of having a fourteen-year-old elected ruler," I said with a smile. "Besides, the Naboo would have to have half a brain to not recognize your good advice." She smiled, and we shared a kiss.

I wasn't too impressed with my first look at Tatooine from space. The whole planet was various shades of tan, orange, and brown with none of the blue and green that Naboo or Earth had. "Are we sure humans can even survive on this planet?" I asked the cockpit in general.

"Oh, yes," Obi-Wan replied with his cultured accent, "though I do not envy any of the inhabitants and consider myself lucky that I will never be among them."

After a nerve-racking landing, at least for me, both Annabeth and I were excited to explore the new planet, and I finally would get off this confining spaceship. But, there was one problem.

"No, you cannot come," Qui-Gon said with his normal calmness.

"Please," I pleaded using my best baby seal eyes.

Qui-Gon just shook his head, apparently immune to my super powers of begging, "The spaceport is too dangerous. The fewer people that go the better."

"But why is Jar-Jar going then?" I asked sounding whiney even to myself.

"He is coming, so I can keep an eye on him. He would be a nuisance to Panaka and Her Highness if left on this ship."

"Then by that reasoning," Annabeth entered the argument, "Percy should also come, and I will come to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. In case you haven't noticed, Percy doesn't do the best when confined to a small space for long periods of time. If he has to stay on this ship for a few more hours, you're going to have to replace a lot more than a hyperdrive generator."

"Is that a threat?" Qui-Gon asked, sounding amused by our antics now.

"Nope," Annabeth replied, "It is just a sound observation from past experiences. When Percy gets bored or remains in or around a transport for an extended period of time, things tend to accidentally blow up. Most of the time, it's not even his fault just bad luck I suppose. Do you know what the current count is, Seaweed Brain?"

"Umm," I thought, "I think I'm up to two buses, three cars, which are both different types of land transports on our home planet, an old military water transport, an ocean cruise ship though I was actually trying to blow up that one. . ."

Qui-Gon raised his eye brows, "That is an impressive trail of destruction for one so young, perhaps it's caused by whatever strange connection you seem to have with the Force. Very well, you can come if only to prevent further damage to the ship. However, Captain Panaka must agree to it as he is your guardian, and you will be responsible for keeping Jar Jar out of trouble. Captain?" he asked Panaka.

Panaka just shook his head at us looking slightly exasperated, "It is probably for the best that they go. I wouldn't put it past them to sneak out anyways." He was right about that. I was already trying to come up with possible escape plans. "Besides," he continued, "they are rather resourceful and always seem to be able to get things accomplished even if they use unconventional methods."

"Yes!" I fist pumped the air, "Thanks Panaka, you're the best!" I even gave him a quick hug and ran to get Annabeth's and my bags.

As I left, I heard Panaka say, "He must be really desperate to get off this ship."

Reviewer Questions:

Yoitspercy - asked about frequency of updates. I will do my best to update at least once a week. I have a pretty solid outline through Episode II, so it might slow down some after that although I already have an ending planed out. I've never had a story stuck in my head before, and it's kind of annoying so ideally I would like to have it all written down as soon as possible.