Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters
Note: Things are going to go a little AU in this chapter.
Chapter 4
Qui-Gon watched the three younglings talk amongst themselves; Anakin had untapped potential as did Faith but Andrew seemed to be only excited by the prospect of visiting the temple not studying in it or possibly becoming a Jedi himself.
As the ship landed Andrew heard the pilot tell Anakin that they were landing, he looked out and made a face as it was that Senator Palpatine, he hated that guy as he always seemed really slippery and it wasn’t like he was mean to him, something about him just made his skin crawl.
“Your majesty,” Palpatine said, “I thank the gods that you are safe.”
Andrew thought, ‘Lovely, he’s coming here,’ and forced a smile as Palpatine nodded to him and walked off.
Qui-Gon looked at Chancellor Valorum and said, “I have to speak to the Jedi Council, the situation has changed a great deal,” and looked at the three kids.
The Chancellor nodded and Andrew went over to see his sister when Qui-Gon tapped his shoulder and said, “Would you like to see the temple?”
Andrew nodded and followed him and Obi-Wan into another shuttle, he looked uneasily at the Jedi as he wasn’t sure what they were playing at but it made him uneasy. Qui-Gon had been stepping on eggshells since that other guy attacked him and he was even acting kinda grandfatherly to him and Anakin.
As the shuttle took them to the temple Andrew got a bit excited as he wanted to go see the archives but he heard that only Jedi were allowed to go to the archives.
The shuttle landed and Qui-Gon pushed them out and led them the past younglings that were waiting to be picked to be Padawans and others who would be sent to farm worlds and learn how to use the Force to grow plants. Anakin was getting excited, he looked at Andrew and said, “Wonder if I’m going to be trained as a Jedi? Hey, maybe you’re going to be a Jedi too.”
Andrew shook his head and said, “Don’t want to be a Jedi.”
Qui-Gon looked a bit unsettled at Andrew’s words, ‘Why wouldn’t he want to be a Jedi?’ But he had a feeling that the Naboo government would have words if Andrew was taken in.
They walked around while Obi-Wan pointed out things when they passed some room and Andrew found a couple of the places looked familiar but he probably saw them in pictures. They passed by a huge statue of the prodigal knight Revan and both Andrew and Faith stopped at it and stared, both of them felt like they had seen it before.
Andrew’s eyes also looked at a statue that supposedly represented Exile which caused him to think about that voice he heard sometimes.
Faith looked around and smiled as this place was like coming home, she missed her mom but this place felt calm and they were going up to see the council.
Qui-Gon had them wait in a small room, Andrew listened to Faith and Anakin talk about possibly becoming Jedi knights and he looked uneasy, this place was bringing up bad feelings for him.
*So,* Kreia whispered, *You remember what this place was to your past self? The Jedi are still the same, doing the will of the Force.*
Anakin looked at Andrew and thought, ‘He looked a bit out of place here and nervous.’ He walked over and started to talk to him about other things and calmed him down.
When Qui-Gon came out it was near sunset and he called Andrew in so he could begin the tests, he looked at Faith and Anakin and said, “Don’t worry my young friends you will be meeting the council soon, Master Yoda wishes to meet Andrew in private but you two will be meeting the rest.”
Qui-Gon walked with Andrew down a hallway and said, “Don’t worry, Master Yoda is very kind. He’s wanted to meet you ever since I told him about your dreams.”
Andrew looked worried and said, “Nightmares, they’re just nightmares, honest!!”
“No, my young friend, the Force is showing events of incredible historic significance and I did not want to scare you,” Qui-Gon said softly.
As he opened the door Andrew saw a small green humanoid creature and as he looked at him kindly Andrew had an image of someone similar.
“Come in, come in,” Yoda said as he walked towards Andrew and smiled slightly at the young human’s nervousness, “Worry not, I do not bite.”
Andrew sat down and Yoda poured him a cup of warm tea, Yoda smiled, “Swamproot tea, very good.”
He took a sip of the tea and nearly gagged at the taste as it was so bitter; give him the Gungan bubble tea anytime of the week.
“Most dire news,” Yoda said as he sipped his tea, “Three young people with incredible potential have come to us this day, pity they are so old but if Master Qui-Gon have his way all of you shall be accepted as Padawans.”
“Umm,” Andrew said, not wanting to insult Yoda about not wanting to be a Jedi.
Yoda’s eyes twinkled and he smiled, “But your path shall not be your companion’s path but their futures are clouded for the Dark side clouds the future, as it does yours.”
“So,” Andrew said, “I don’t have to be a Jedi knight?”
“No,” Yoda stated firmly, “It is not your destiny but,” he hesitated and said, “Come for you, I shall and talk to you of things.”
Andrew got up and left and Yoda regarded him kindly; all three of them were important and Qui-Gon was certain that Anakin was the chosen one and Faith’s power was almost as great trained they would be eventually as he foresaw.
He walked out and saw Anakin and Faith, both with frowns on their faces, he had an idea that it didn’t go well for them.
Anakin said with a frown, “They said that we’re too close to the Dark side of the Force and that we were also too old.”
Faith nodded, “Yeah, they were impressed by how good we were but they said that they would have to talk about our fate later.”
“Oh, maybe you guys could come to live with me on Naboo?” Andrew said, “It’s a nice planet, you might like it.”
They nodded but Andrew could tell that they were upset as he was upset too, just because he didn’t want to be a Jedi didn’t mean that they shouldn’t be Jedi.
Andrew saw Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan come out and they both looked a bit grim. Qui-Gon said, “We’re heading back to Naboo, the Queen had a no confidence vote for supreme Chancellor Valorum’s removal.”
Andrew froze, ‘Padmé did that!!? She had a lot of respect for Valorum and she always told me that he was their biggest supporter.’
Obi-Wan took Andrew back to the apartments where the queen was staying, he thanked the Jedi and walked in to see Padmé sitting in her dress looking upset, he rushed over and said, “Padmé?”
She looked back and said, “Andrew, it was horrible, they wanted to send a committee to Naboo to verify the treatment of our people.”
Andrew made a face as he hugged her, ‘Verify while their people suffered? And how long would that take?’ he thought.
Padmé smiled, “But anyways Andrew we’re going back to Naboo, our fate won’t be any different from our people.”
He nodded and she smiled, “Why did they take you to the temple anyways?”
“No reason,” Andrew lied, he didn’t want her to worry about that right away as Naboo was more important.
“You go to bed Andrew,” she said, “It’s past bed time for both of us.”
Andrew nodded and rushed to bed as he was tired from the day, as he sank into the bed he prayed to the gods that Faith and Anakin would be able to realize their dreams.
The next day was full of them preparing for the trip home, Jar Jar was excited and told them that the Droids would never beat the grand army of the Gungans and Andrew saw that Padmé had an idea. “Grand army,” she told him in private, “Perhaps it’s time for the Gungans and the Naboo to join together and fight our common enemy.”
Andrew nodded but reminded her that the Gungans and their race had bad blood between them ever since the Naboo colonized the planet.
“I know Andrew,” Padmé said, “But it’s time for us to leave our hatreds behind and besides, the relationship between our two races has warmed up considerably.”
They walked out and Andrew noticed that Faith and Anakin had both cheered up and they ran towards him looking happy.
“What happened?” Andrew said, “You guys look better than last night.”
Anakin suddenly said, “We might be able to be trained after all, they talked with us and said that we might be able to be trained, it’s happened before.”
“What about you Andrew?” Anakin asked, “I mean you went to talk to Master Yoda, right?”
Andrew smiled and said, “He told me that my journey isn’t yours but he predicted that we would meet again and besides, I didn’t want to become a Jedi.”
They both frowned but decided not to question Andrew’s choice but they were also excited that they might be trained as Jedi knights; they could go back to Tatoonine and free the slaves.
Andrew spent the trip back to Naboo talking with his sister, she didn’t want him to be part of the battle, she actually ordered him to find a safe place to hide and stay hidden. He protested but she said, “No Andrew, this time you have to listen to me.”
He nodded, it wasn’t really fair to expect him to hide while others fought for their world but she calmed him down and said that it was for his and her safety as the Trade Federation could catch him and hold him hostage.
As they landed they heard that there was only one enemy ship and Padmé thanked the gods for that, if there were more then her plan wouldn’t have worked as well.
“Let’s move,” Qui-Gon said, “They will soon learn where we are.”
Jar Jar lead them to the Gungan sacred place and Andrew looked around as Boss Nass came down and looked at them.
“Yousa stepped in it big time Binks,” Nass grumbled, “They brought this army of machines down on us, thisa being their fault and yousa going to be crunched for bringin them to our sacred place!!”
‘This is going well,‘ Padmé thought, ‘Two minutes in and he’s already blaming us,’ and she watched as her handmaiden was trying to convince the Gungan to join them.
She suddenly got up and said, “Sorry, I’m Queen Amidala and this is my handmaiden who is my double on occasions. Please, while we haven’t always seen eye to eye on things our two great peoples have never been at war.”
Boss Nass looked down and began to laugh, “Yousa no thinkin yousa smarter than the Gungans? Mesa liking this, maybe wesa being friends.”
The Gungans erupted into cheers while Andrew smiled, ‘This part of her plan was done, now for the next part,’ he thought.
Anakin and Faith ran up to him and both said, “Padmé’s the queen? How did she pull that off?”
Andrew smiled, “She’s also my sister too, we wanted to be careful about the people we trusted with the information.”
“You could’ve told us,” Anakin said, “We wouldn’t have told on you.”
“Umm, yeah but if you got caught and they hurt you for the information then, like they could find the rest of our family in the Lake Country.”
Anakin looked a bit hurt but nodded, “Alright, I guess that sounds like a good reason. So when are we going to Theed?”
“When the rest of the resistance shows up but I won’t be going with you,” Andrew said, “My sister wants me to stay safe.”
Boss Nass walked over and tapped Andrew on the shoulder, “Wesa been asked to keep yousa safe Andrew.”
“Yes sir,” Andrew said as he went with Boss Nass, he waved to Anakin and Faith who waved back a bit glumly.
“Thisa being your protector,” Nass said as he introduced a Gungan warrior to him, “Yousa to stay with him at all times.”
Andrew nodded and the Gungan smiled, “Hello Andrew, mesa hoping the fightin not coming here.”
As Andrew watched the others leave he was starting getting uneasy again, he sat down with Gungan who offered him some bubble tea and said, “Itsa gonna be alright, wesa gonna crunch the machines and crunch them good.”
“You do know that this is just all a diversion, right?” Andrew said, “I mean a lot of your race could die.”
“Wesa warriors,” the Gungan said proudly thumping his chest, “Wesa always ready to do our parts.”
Andrew nodded and drank the tea as he worried about his sister, his concern only grew more and more as the Gungan swore that there was nothing wrong. It was hours when a speeder came back and Andrew saw Padmé get out, he rushed over and hugged her tightly as she smiled softly, “We won Andrew.”
“How many people died?” Andrew asked a bit hopeful that no one died.
“Master Qui-Gon nearly died,” Padmé said, “He very nearly lost his life to one of the Trade Federation’s allies. They say it was a Sith warrior Andrew, can you imagine it?”
Andrew looked confused, “The Sith are supposed to be dead Padmé and have been for a thousand years.”
She held him and said, “Come on, the other Jedi are coming to check on how Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are doing and you can say good bye to Anakin and Faith.”
As they went back to Theed Andrew found out that Anakin and Faith were the ones who destroyed the ship; they had both taken refuge in a couple of fighters and Anakin destroyed the ship from the inside while Faith’s sharp shooting destroyed several of the droid fighters.
Andrew smiled as they got back to Theed, he rushed out and saw his parents who both hugged him and told them that the Trade Federation never found them. They followed him out to the main streets where the Jedi were waiting for them.
Anakin and Faith ran up and Anakin said, “We’re going to be trained as Jedi Andrew.”
“That’s good to hear,” Andrew said, “Who are your masters are going to be?”
“While I got Obi-Wan,” Anakin said as he pointed at the Obi-Wan, “And Faith’s going to be trained by Qui-Gon.”
He looked happily at them and was about to go to see his family when Yoda walked behind him and said, “Youngling come back; will have words with you I shall.”
Andrew looked a bit uneasy at what Yoda wanted to say as he wasn’t planning on leaving Naboo, ever.
Yoda walked down a street and said, “Walk with me Andrew Naberrie.”
As they walked Yoda smiled, “My heart is glad to see you alive and well. Heard you about the Sith?”
“Yes,” Andrew muttered, “But I thought they died out a thousand years ago?”
“No,” Yoda shook his head, “Too blind are the Jedi right now, too blind. Much arrogance there in ones like Jorus C’Baoth. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are some of the best in the order as are the council.”
“Umm, why are you telling me this?” Andrew muttered with a bit of distrust.
“Almost nine hundred years old am I,” Yoda stated proudly, “Trained many Padawans, so many and outlived all of them.”
“You,” Yoda stated, “Have great potential as do your companions, the Skywalker’s. Said I before that you shall not be a Jedi but seen you in visions I have, you shall walk alone many years through dark places and alone. I wish you not to go but take these with you.”
Andrew looked at the robes and gasped, a lightsaber? He saw Yoda walk off and say, “When back you come to Coruscant, see me you must.”
TBC
What do you think Yoda meant when he said that Andrew had to walk through dark places? Should Andrew take R2 with him? Or should he get his own droid? What do you thin of the choices for Anakin’s and Faith’s Jedi Masters? What do you think Andrew should be doing while the others are training? Whose robe and lightsaber did Yoda give to Andrew?
The next few chapters will show what happened between episode 1 and 2.
Please rate and review.