Welcome to the first official chapter of this story!
Anyway, I will be using my made up date system of YASW, which's year 1 is 1000 years before Star Wars: A New Hope, so that would make the prologue take place 938 YASW, and this chapter take place on 948 YASW, or 20 years before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
In this chapter, Qui-Gon was recently knighted, so he will look like almost like what any other Padawan would after being recently knighted. Except, only seven eights of his braid has been cut off, so there's a bit of hair poking out at the back of his head. He's still clean shaved though.
Time: 948 YASW, 11th Month
Location: Space, just above Coruscant
To say that 20 year old Qui-Gon Jinn enjoyed flying was an understatement, he had a natural flying instinct which allowed him to be a natural pilot, his skills were second to none when it came to the arena of flying and anything mechanical.
But his former master, 50 year old Jedi Master Dooku would argue at this point. Just like now, when the two were flying at the heat of battle to rescue Senator Damask of Scipio.
The past three years have been stressful, with the Sith finally unleashing their plans across the galaxy, and two Jedi Hunters who go by the names Jango Fett and General Grievous. There was also a mysterious Sith Apprentice who was superior to Jango and Grievous and also led most if not all the Sith Droid Army.
These Sith invading the Republic had caused a war, which was named by almost everyone the Droid War, since most if not all the Sith's army consisted of droids built by the Trade Federation, who had seceded to the Sith's Separatist government, along with many other planets.
The Republic had constructed an army in retaliation, and all people from 17 years to 30 years were required to join the Republic military for a minimum of two years.
Because of this, the Jedi, who have been appointed Generals of the Republic Army, have been scattered everywhere across the galaxy as the darkness began to take reign, blinding the light side very much, to the point where only the most maverick of Jedi, like Dooku, only saw the small light decreasing. even Grand Master Yoda feared what this could mean for the Galaxy.
Many Jedi have been trying to convince the Council to act on the Balancer's stead and revise the Jedi Code to make the Jedi stronger, but the Council have been against it, but Qui-Gon was told by Yoda that he saw the point, but Master Windu was not going to budge.
For this mission, Qui-Gon and Dooku had decided to not take any Republic Troopers with them, since the military was lacking at that point of the war, and, they did not even need military support since the two were one of the best Jedi pairs in the entire Order.
"This is going to be one hell of a rescue" Qui-Gon muttered, mostly to himself, in his yellow Jedi Starfighter, as he looked around to see millions of the Sith's droid forces all for the sole purpose of destroying them
"True, but Senator Damask must be rescued!" Dooku passionately told his former Padawan, who had been recently knighted
"Sometimes, I fear the influence that Senator Damask has on you" Qui-Gon honestly sighed, then he immediately brightened up and asked giddily unlike the dreary tone of the conversation before, "Ready to have some fun Master?"
Dooku smiled and nodded his head as Qui-Gon sped forward, as he responded with "I hardly call it 'fun'!"
"Right. I forgot. You hate flying." Qui-Gon teased, quieting himself, but continuing to shoot droid fighters
"You don't fly, Qui-Gon, you try to cheat death" Dooku teased back, then turning serious and doing his part of the work
They both began to speed forward towards what they tracked was Grievous's Cruiser. Many things tried to stop them, Vulture Droids, Droid Arc-Fighters and many other types of Droid ships.
Then, a cruiser blocked their path, as all the other cruisers and ships reared back, some droid arc fighters surrounded the cruiser.
"It's an ambush!" Qui-Gon exclaimed, horrified
"We need to get past that cruiser" Dooku ordered, sternly
"If we do that, we'd get killed, I have an idea!" Qui-Gon told his Master, then instructed him "Blast down as many droid ships you can, I'll deactivate the cruiser!"
"That's a plan?" Dooku asked, disbelieving
Qui-Gon had already went forward and pushed against the droid forces. He shot two ships down and had all the droid forces pursuing him. Dooku then realised what Qui-Gon meant, smiled and shot down three droid ships behind Qui-Gon, and began to pick them off one by one.
Qui-Gon then braked his ship where the bridge was, he eyed the officer on the ship, who was eyeing his ship, he then boosted, as many lasers tried to kill him, but they were unsuccessful, as he surrendered himself to the Force, and the precisely blasted the bridge. And without the bridge to control the entire cruiser, it plummeted to the ground.
"That cruiser was hard enough" Dooku commented, as they neared Grievous's cruiser
"Yeah. The Jedi have gotten less skilled throughout the years, I imagine, that if all this happened a generation later, that the Sith would try blasting missiles instead of an entire cruiser" Qui-Gon commented, Dooku shuddered for some reason he didn't know at that comment, Qui-Gon sensed that and asked seriously, "Something wrong?"
"Let's just get into the cruiser" Dooku ordered Qui-Gon, recovering from the shudder.
What the two didn't notice was that two missiles were ironically aimed at them. The two were too busy bantering that they didn't notice the missiles hit their thrusters. Qui-Gon only noticed when his displays went red instead of blue.
Dooku's jaw dropped at Qui-Gon cheerily saying "Let's crash into the cruiser!", pumping his fist at the air.
"Wha?" Dooku was too confused to notice that Qui-Gon had used the Force to make Dooku's ship shoot down the left shield generator that shielded the entrance.
The two ships did what Qui-Gon wanted, crashing onto the floor of the cruiser. Qui-Gon eagerly went out, as a very shocked Dooku came out of his ship and looked around. Something told him that he would have died here if something hadn't happened.
Misinterpreting the feeling, he turned to Qui-Gon and screamed "We could have died!"
Qui-Gon then was taken aback in fear, as he bowed his head and apologised with "I'm sorry Master", ever since he was taken as apprentice by Dooku, he realised whenever Dooku was angry, to make sure everything went Dooku's way.
"Sorry is not enough this time, Padawan! You were reckless and let emotions cloud your judgement!" Dooku sternly exclaimed, then he muttered "I swear, you'll become a Sith someday"
Only in a few weeks will Qui-Gon realise the irony of that statement.
But for now, Qui-Gon Jinn and a slightly calmed down Jedi Master Dooku were walking down the empty corridors.
"I sense a trap" Dooku suddenly announced, his voice toned enough for only Qui-Gon to hear what he said
"Me too. What do we do?" Qui-Gon asked, searching for a solution
"Easy. We spring the trap." Dooku chuckled, as the two kept walking.
And so they did, they kept track of Senator Damask's presence, as Qui-Gon thought about why the Sith would decide to kidnap the Senator of a planet far from the core.
Of course, it was not too far since it was a Republic planet, but why kidnap the Senator of the Banking Clan? Unless, it was part of something bigger, and the kidnapping wasn't just for the war. What if the Muun Senator was somehow connected to the Sith?
Something clicked inside Qui-Gon at that thought. He realised that he needed to keep an eye on the Senate. Sith or not, some Senators have been acting suspicious lately, so something was definitely going on and Qui-Gon swore to find out whatever it was.
Dooku entered an elevator along with Qui-Gon, as the Jedi Master pushed the appropriate buttons until the elevator went upwards to where the Senator was in while Qui-Gon kept thinking of the ramifications of his theory.
The elevator doors dramatically opened, Qui-Gon went forward to see Senator Damask bound to a chair. The two Jedi formally walked towards the Senator who was elected 10 years before.
"Senator" Qui-Gon bowed in respect
"Are you okay?" Dooku asked, concerned
"General Grievous", was Damask's only words, as the Qui-Gon looked back to see the cyborg standing on top of the staircase.
Qui-Gon and Dooku quickly walked forward to the white cyborg, activating their green and blue lightsabers, respectively. The Jedi stood for a moment, glaring at Grievous, daring him to speak.
Which he did, with, "I've been looking forward to killing you"
"Me too. You and your cohorts have been continuing this war for long enough!" Qui-Gon snapped, making Dooku briefly glance at him
"This time, we do it together" Dooku warned Qui-Gon bluntly, the last time they duelled Grievous, Qui-Gon had charged at Grievous alone, costing his left hand, which was replaced with a robotic one
"That's what I was going to say" Qui-Gon joked, despite in a serious tone
The two charged, as Dooku warned, together. Grievous activated four of 'his' lightsabers, Qui-Gon wondered silently, where he saw one of those lightsabers, a blue lightsaber which had a mostly silver hilt, but black at the bottom. But he couldn't focus on that now.
Qui-Gon raised his blade and struck it down at Grievous, who defended the attack, much to Qui-Gon's chagrin. Dooku swung his weapon at Grievous's side, who defended the attack, as the three went up the stairs.
Qui-Gon ducked from an attack as the two Jedi switched from which side did they attack Grievous, Qui-Gon was now attacking Grievous from the right, giving him a close view of the lightsaber he was apparently familiar with.
That blue lightsaber almost hit Qui-Gon's face, as he noticed a slight falter in the blue colour, becoming lighter. He then realised who the blade belonged to at first.
Just because he was a Jedi, didn't mean that he followed the Code, Qui-Gon preferred the Old Code, the one the Jedi used before the Sith Wars 948 years before. As a result, he had a few girlfriends, the last one being a Jedi Padawan like him back then. She had died at the hands of Grievous, he remembered, and just after that, he had been sent to a mission with his Master! He didn't even get to mourn her correctly!
Qui-Gon's eyes bled yellow, much to Plagueis's surprise, the Sith Master thought that Qui-Gon was too light, judging from the last time they spoke. But it was… interesting to say the least. If he could have Qui-Gon join the Dark Side, that would be a good bonus, but he needed to focus on the Jedi he was currently trying to turn.
Plus, no point in turning who was thought to be the Chosen One, unlike what Sidious thought, Qui-Gon had been thought to be the Chosen One, since, one day, coincidentally one month after Plagueis had that vision, Qui-Gon had gained 10,000 more midi-chlorians, making his count 21,835 midi-chlorians, the highest recorded for a Jedi so far, or any Force user for that matter.
So, Yoda had become like a second teacher to Qui-Gon because of that, but Dooku was allowed to teach Qui-Gon.
"I HATE YOU!" Qui-Gon screamed at Grievous, as his attacks became more unrefined, but brutal.
Dooku was shocked at his former-apprentice's change in attitude. Plagueis received a dark pleasure from it, despite that he was going to turn another Jedi.
Grievous noticed that Qui-Gon's attacks became less unrefined and more obtuse, and Grievous was going to take advantage of this!
He punched Qui-Gon on the face, who let out a small grunt of pain, clutching his face before Grievous, who Plagueis had made so he was Force Sensitive, force pushed him, making Qui-Gon hit a wall and rendering him stunned.
Dooku gasped at this as, for the means for Grievous to immobilise him for at least the length of the duel, the cyborg manipulated the force to make a platform on top of the young Jedi fall onto him.
Dooku felt a fatherly overprotectiveness fill his senses, as he had his own burst of anger, and as he have had for the past five years, he used the anger to his advantage unlike Qui-Gon Jinn.
Dooku kicked Grievous down the stairs, as the duel continued with blue connecting with multiple blue and green lightsabers. Plagueis smiled, before he retained his disguise as Senator Hego Damask.
"You have anger, but you don't use it" Grievous taunted, making Dooku angrier, as the lightsaber master suddenly found the ends to cut off all four arms of the cyborg.
If he were still made of living organs, Grievous would have screamed in pain, but he didn't since his arms were cybernetic, that was one advantage. Now, Dooku was holding the blade of Qui-Gon's dead girlfriend that found it's way into the hands of Grievous, and his own lightsaber at the sides of Grievous's 'neck' in a scissor-like stance.
"Good. Good… kill him" Plagueis ordered praisingly, to anyone, he looked like a compassionate politician wanting to end the Sith threats, but Grievous knew better as he widened his eyes in shock and betrayal
"I can't, it's not the Jedi way" Dooku protested, his voice soft and faltering with fear
"Kill him now. Do it." Plagueis quickly pressed on
Dooku screamed, as he flicked the lightsabers on his hand, beheading the Cyborg Sith in the moment of a few seconds. Dooku snapped the bonds that held Damask. Dooku helped the Senator stand up, as they briefly glanced at each other, and began quickly walking forward.
Damask was going up the bottom of the stairs, Dooku was about to follow, but then noticed his former apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn lying unconscious.
"Leave him, he has no use." Damask urged in the same tone as when he ordered Dooku to kill the beheaded cyborg behind them
"No. His fate will be the same as ours" Dooku relented, lifting the platform on Qui-Gon with the force, and then pushing it forward. He then took his former apprentice and put him on his right shoulder, Damask just shrugged before the two went up the stairs.
Well, I made longer chapters than this, but I sincerely hope that all my chapters for this story are about as long as this chapter. About Qui-Gon and the Jedi thinking he's the Chosen One, don't worry, Anakin's still the Chosen One, how? You'll find out. NEXT CHAPTER: ESCAPING GRIEVOUS'S CRUISER