AN: My sincerest apologies for the said-isms in this chapter.
Obi-Wan thought his lungs might burst if the door didn't open soon. When finally it did, he was all to eager to spring into action. It was only a stern thought from his Master that stopped him.
-Not yet,- Qui-Gon said through their Force bond. The protocol droid exited the room first and was greeted by battle droids cocking their blasters.
It wasn't until the droid was out of the line of fire that Qui-Gon ignited his lightsaber once more, followed swiftly by Obi-Wan. The air sang with the hum of electricity from their blades and the sharp, staccato bursts from the droids' blasters. They took care of the battle droids in short order, their movements in perfect sync.
Obi-Wan reached out with the Force as reinforcements arrived to aid the fallen battle droids and deactivated them all in one swift motion. They clattered to the ground like overgrown children's toys.
"This way," Qui-Gon said, leading the way through wave after wave of battle droids. Obi-Wan kept pace perfectly with his Master. -To the bridge,- the thought was the very definition of an afterthought. Were their lives not in danger, Obi-Wan might've laughed.
As they approached the bridge, Obi-Wan worked to clear the corridor, deflecting blasterfire back at the droids firing at them and using the force to disable those he couldn't reach. Behind him, his Master set to work opening the door the hard way— with his lightsaber.
The number of droids in the corridor steadily decreased until Obi-Wan was facing one at a time with an interval of several seconds between each one appearing. He found himself almost eagerly awaiting each one as they approached, reaching out with the Force to sense them before he could see them.
Qui-Gon paused and Obi-Wan turned back inquisitively as they heard a second set of doors slamming shut. The Master withdrew his lightsaber from the neat circle he'd been cutting in the door and plunged it to the hilt in the center of the door. The door began to melt. He hoped it would get through both doors.
He wouldn't have time to find out, as Obi-Wan cried out, "Master, destroyers!"
In an instant he once again with drew his lightsaber from the door and moved to rejoin his Padawan as two large brown droids rolled up. As they began shooting, they deployed a thin blue energy barrier. All deflected shots were simply absorbed by this barrier, doing no damage to the droids.
"They've shield generators!" Obi-Wan exclaimed. Qui-Gon shook his head almost imperceptibly.
"It's a standoff. Let's go!" he said. In a flash, the two Jedi deactivated their lightsabers and took off down the corridor as the droids gave chase, shooting continuously.
Qui-Gon saw his chance and took it, pointing his Padawan to an air vent. With one swift swipe of his lightsaber, the vent fell away, allowing them to crawl up into it. Behind them, the droids continued to shoot, thankfully unaware of where the Jedi had gone.
Once they came to a juncture large enough that they could comfortably approach one another, Qui-Gon drew his Padawan into a tight hug as he took stock of his physical and mental state.
-I'm all right, I'm all right,- Obi-Wan insisted, but he was doing the same thing to his Master. Neither was wounded beyond slight, stinging burns where they'd been careless with their blades or blasterfire had come just a bit too close to hitting them. Nothing life-threatening. That was the most important part.
Qui-Gon ran a playful hand through the boy's short hair as he pulled away.
-What's our next move?- he asked his Padawan. Obi-Wan thought for a long moment.
-We need to find transport away from here. They will only continue to try to kill us if we stay.-
-I believe you are right, Obi-Wan.- They continued on through the ventilation system until they came to another opening. Through it they could see a large hangar filled with battle droids and troop transport ships.
They removed the vent cover and slipped out of the ventilation shaft and into the hangar, where they hid behind a large pile of cargo containers.
"Battle droids," Qui-Gon breathed.
"It's an invasion army." Obi-Wan nodded.
"This is an odd play for the Trade Federation. We've got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Valorum," said Qui-Gon. "Let's split up. Stow aboard separate ships. We'll meet down on the planet."
There was a spark of mischief in Obi-Wan's eyes as he continued to nod in agreement. As they looked at the droids being loaded onto the troop transport ships, he turned to his Master, hardly able to contain the wry smile spreading across his face.
"You were right about one thing, Master," he said. Qui-Gon looked at him expectantly, raising an eyebrow. "The negotiations were short."
Qui-Gon did not look amused. Obi-Wan found, as his Master slunk off in the opposite direction of him, that he worried that would be the last thing he ever said to his Master.
So much for an easy mission followed by a week of relaxation, he thought as he climbed aboard one of the troop transport ships and found himself a hiding spot.
It wasn't until the ship was beginning to move that Obi-Wan began to wonder in earnest whether there would be oxygen for him to breathe on the trip down to the planet's surface. He knew he'd find out soon enough.
Qui-Gon, on the other hand, once settled into his hiding place began to meditate. He didn't worry about such trivial things as whether he'd be able to breathe on the journey through space.
He was hardly aware that he'd moved at all when the transport jolted violently upon landing. His eyes snapped open and he watched and waited. The second the hatch opened he was down the ramp. He didn't stop running from the moment his boots hit the damp green grass of the Naboo plains until the moment a curious white-and-orange amphibious creature blocked his path, forcing him to drop to the ground and allow the transports and tanks to pass over him and the creature.
As soon as the crafts had passed them over, Qui-Gon was on his feet again and moving toward the familiar, yet distant, pull of his beloved. Obi-Wan was an ever-present presence in his mind. No matter how close or far from one another they were, Qui-Gon could feel where the younger man was.
In this case, he wasn't too far.
"Whatsen that?" the orange-and-white amphibious creature asked, and Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow. So it can speak. Sort of, he thought as he continued moving, not in the mood to stop and contemplate the creature. "Hey wait!"
Qui-Gon quickened his pace as the creature hurried to catch up with him. I don't have time for this today, he thought. I've got to find Obi-Wan and we've got to warn the Queen!
"Oh muy muy, I love you!" exclaimed the creature as he caught up with the Jedi.
"You almost got us killed!" Qui-Gon said, allowing more than a little of his irritation with the creature to spill into his words. "Are you brainless?"
"I speak!" the creature replied, sounding more than a little offended. Qui-Gon rolled his eyes.
"The ability to speak does not make one intelligent. Now get out of here."
"No, no! Meesa stay! Meesa called Jar Jar Binks! Meesa your humble servant!" cried the creature.
"That won't be necessary," insisted Qui-Gon.
"Oh but it is! Tis demanded by the Gods, it is!" As Qui-Gon opened his mouth to protest further, their until-then peaceful walk through the swampy forest was disrupted by blaster fire. "Oh no!" screamed Jar Jar.
"Stay down!" Qui-Gon ordered as he ignited his lightsaber. Jar Jar dove into the dirt, covering his head with his hands. He was at once relieved and horrified to see that it was none other than his Padawan drawing the blasterfire, his lightsaber tucked in his belt uselessly.
-I've shorted out my 'saber, Master, I'm sorry,- the younger man said as he ran for his Master. Qui-Gon deflected the fire back at the battle droids shooting at them from their speeders, effectively disarming them. Once they were safe, he deactivated his lightsaber and embraced his Padawan. It was at that same moment that Jar Jar managed to scramble back to his feet.
"You saved my again!" he said, looking appreciatively toward Qui-Gon.
"What's this?" Obi-Wan asked, a hint of a mischievous grin on his lips. Qui-Gon didn't try to hide the disgust on his face.
"A local," he said. "Let's get out of here before more droids show up."
"More?" Jar Jar sounded alarmed. "More did you speak?" He hurried after the Jedi as they began to walk through the forest together. "Ex-squeeze me, but the mostest safest place would be Gunga city! Tis where I grew up. Tis a hidden city!"
"A city?" Qui-Gon asked, stopping short to allow the Gungan to catch up.
"Uh-hah!" Jar Jar replied, nodding enthusiastically.
"Can you take us there?"
The Gungan looked conflicted. "Uh…" He looked at the ground, rubbing his neck. "On second thought, no. Not really, no."
"No?" Qui-Gon asked, incredulous.
"Is embarrassing," Jar Jar confessed. "But, ah, my afraid my have been banished. My forgotten. The Bosses will do terrible things to me, terrible things to me if me going back there!"
Almost on cue, the tanks and transports moving across the landscape made an especially loud noise. Qui-Gon could hardly contain his smirk as he turned and gestured. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah," said Jar Jar.
"That is the sound of a thousand terrible things headed this way."
"And if they find us," added Obi-Wan. "They will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces and blast us into oblivion."
"Uh, yousa point is, uh, well seen," Jar Jar said, backing away from them as the Jedi exerted the bare minimum of Force persuasion to intimidate the strange and frankly rather annoying creature. "This way, hurry!" he said as he spun around, finally deciding on a direction to go. The Jedi, after exchanging amused glances, followed closely.