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| The Traveler by Jedi Gepper |
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The sleek Naboo starfighter ascended out of the hangar, heading for space. The verdant green of the plains of Naboo was replaced in his sight as he focused on the clear blue of the sky. This soon made the inevitable transition to blackness as the blazing yellow ship left the atmosphere of its home planet. In the distance, the pilot could see pinpoints of light that he knew to be the forces of the Trade Federation. This particular pilot could not speak for the others, being rather low on the chain of command, but he had confidence that this mission was a form of sanctioned suicide. Naboo starfighters looked good, to be certain, but they were notoriously useless in a fight. What that young queen was thinking in sending them up here was far beyond this pilot's understanding.
Reflecting on his plight in general, the pilot wondered how he even got here at all. It had been quite a journey these last few days, and he could not help reliving it as he made his approach towards the behemoth control ship.
He really had been minding his business, doing diagnostic checks on his ship and awaiting his next cycle of surveillance flights. This whole encounter with the Trade Federation had put everyone on edge, but the pilot assumed it would resolve itself. After all, what made Naboo such an interesting conquest anyway? So, as he ran numbers and saw to his ship, he failed to see the battalion of battle droids enter his hangar. It was too late to be brave about it, so he surrendered along with all of the other hapless pilots there with him.
They were there for some time, sitting on the ground with blasters pointed at them by the automatons. It would have been a tedious experience were it not for those ever alert droids, looking for a reason to assert their authority.
Just as our pilot was about to nod off, which probably would not have been that wise, an entire ensemble entered the hangar. It was such a varied group that the pilot wondered skeptically about the likelihood of a parade in this situation. The group included at its lead two robed men, dressed simply but appearing imposing. Following them, it looked to be Naboo's queen. She looked different somehow from the holograms he had seen, thought the pilot, but no one looks like they do on the Holonet anyway. Following her were several of her handmaidens, her security chief, and one of those floppy-eared Gungans that lived somewhere on the planet. How did he fit into this situation? The pilot doubted that he did.
After a brief conversation with the chief battle droid, the taller of the robed men unsheathed some sort of laser sword and started slashing away at the hapless invaders. The pilot barely had time to adapt to this when the shorter of the two robed men looked to the pilots, also holding one of the laser weapons, and said "Go!" As a unit, all of the seated pilots rushed aboard the queen's starship in the center of the hangar.
They all got themselves seating somewhere in the ship, leaving the cockpit to its captain and members of the curious entourage. All of the "parade" had entered the ship, the robed men entering last. The queen and her handmaidens found their own chambers. The robed warriors headed for the cockpit with the security chief. The pilot felt the ship lift out of the hangar and head for space. There were a few tense minutes as they were fired upon. All of the pilots looked around them, but having no windows from which to observe, they were forced to imagine what was happening outside the ship. The thoughts were not comforting.
Soon, however, the ship seemed to be out of danger. The taller robed man came back to the pilots and introduced himself as a Jedi named Qui Gon Jinn. He said that the ship was safe but needed repairs, so they were heading to a nearby planet called Tatooine. The pilot thought to himself that he did not care where he was going so long as he was not being fired upon without being able to fire back. This Jedi, though, seemed an able protector for the moment, so the pilot reassured himself with that.
Tatooine, however, did nothing to reassure him. In fact, having so recently been in such danger, he wondered how he could so quickly make the transition to such boredom. All of the pilots were asked politely but quite directly to stay on the ship while materials for repairs were sought. They would help in the repairs when the time came to do them, but for now there was nothing to do. Absolutely nothing. The pilot attempted some small talk with his comrades, but his attention for that was soon lost. He found it much more interesting to focus on the shorter Jedi left behind.
With such a paucity of facts, the pilots were thrilled by any new tidbit that came their way. They had learned that this Jedi was called Obi Wan Kenobi. Our pilot found him interesting simply because he seemed just as bored as they were. He came back to them occasionally to send some sort of calming aura over them, but he seemed to hardly feel it himself. In fact, unlike the taller Jedi, this one seemed unceasingly irritated. He could hardly mask his scowl at times. Once in awhile, the pilot heard the Jedi communicating with the other one whom he called "Master." The pilot noted that this Master always cut off his transmissions rather abruptly. The pilot knew how that felt. His commanding officer was always doing that to him too.
After a couple of interminable days, they had the parts they needed. All of the pilots set to work on repairs. Seeing as there were so many of them, the work did not take long. They all awaited the return of the Jedi Qui Gon Jinn who had gone back to town for some reason. All of a sudden, the ship was moving. The Jedi had apparently leaped back on board, or so the pilot heard later, as the ship was taking off. Why he chose this means of boarding, the pilot did not know.
With the Jedi, however, was a new addition to this strange crew. A little boy, probably around nine or ten years old, was now with them. He was ridiculously nosy about everything, and he alternated between knowing it all and brooding about being away from home. Once again, the pilot was at a loss to explain something, this time the presence of the boy. One of the handmaidens, who the pilot thought looked more like the queen than the queen herself, kept calling him "Ani." This made the pilot chuckle. No self-respecting guy would want such a silly name. Whatever his real name was, and the pilot hoped it was not that one, he would be going by it soon enough.
The Jedi Qui Gon informed the pilots that they were now headed for Coruscant where they would be allowed to disembark. They were free to roam the city but to stay in contact with the ship. The starship's captain came to talk to the pilots too. He called himself Ric Olie, and the pilot soon realized that he had the annoying habit of stating the obvious. He filled the pilots in on Coruscant. Most of them, the pilot realized, were like him and had never been to this capital planet. He told them that "the entire planet is one big city," to be careful in the lower levels, and try not to appear to be too much of an offworlder. How they would avoid that fate in their pilots' uniforms, no one knew.
The royal starship arrived on Coruscant. The pilots were finally allowed to leave the ship after the Queen and her party had left. The pilot found it odd that the little Ani boy went with them, but his presence was a mystery in any case. They even took the Gungan along, so there appeared to be no logic to any of this. As the pilot wandered the city with his comrades, he was astounded by the place. He was not astounded in a positive fashion, however. The place was ghastly: enormous, ugly buildings; endless traffic, amber skies. It was as if the planet was a living thing, but an abomination of the idea of life at the same time. Why anyone would want to live here was beyond him. There could be no peace of mind in such a loud and busy place. Even the biggest cities on Naboo felt more welcoming than this. He was happy when they were finally called back to the ship after a few days.
Onboard again, this time the pilots were informed of their next destination by the Jedi Obi Wan. He let them know that they were heading back to Naboo and that further instructions were pending. Things became more confused in the pilot's head. He learned that the queen had spoken to the Galactic Senate, but apparently the outcome did not satisfy her. Now she was taking them back into the war zone, probably to certain doom. Suddenly, the dank streets of Coruscant were looking good to him.
They landed in a swamp on Naboo. The pilot saw that the little boy was still with them, and that just added to the surreal nature of his entire experience these last few days. Before he knew it, he was trudging with the entourage into the forests to meet the leader of the Gungans. The Gungans! He had never even seen a Gungan in person until a few day ago, and now he was in the presence of their leader. This was almost more than he could handle, but he took it all in just the same. Presumably, this would make a good story some day if anyone cared to hear it.
The queen spoke before the Gungan chief called Boss Nass, but before the pilot could grasp what was going on entirely, the handmaiden who had a predilection for calling the boy "Ani" spoke up. So, she was the queen all along! This was just too much. He resolved to resign himself to everything else that happened, assuming it was all some very weird dream anyway. He took comfort in the fact that he had seen through this handmaiden disguise before this revelation, or so he fancied. He had never actually put the pieces quite together, but he grasped for it nonetheless.
The revealed queen, the Gungan leader, the security chief and the Jedi plotted a course of action while the pilots mingled. The curious boy was still there, and the floppy-eared Gungan was gaining prominence, if not friends. The plan was presented to the pilots who could not help but look on warily.
The Queen was insane. Yes, that was the gist of it. How could anyone in her right mind send this lot of pilots who had never seen actual combat into a battle such as this? Clearly, she thought them expendable, good for a distraction before inevitable death. When the next election rolled around, and if he survived to see it, this pilot was voting for someone else.
So, here he was. His starship was now closing in on the Trade Federation Control ship, and he saw fate staring him in his terrified eyes. Well, at least he could shoot back now when they fired at him, if only briefly. He saw the battle already flaring up, saw other Naboo starfighters flash out of existence. His stomach tightened as he closed in. The chatter of the other pilots only confirmed that things did not go well. The journey has been fun, he thought. At least I will have died in battle. Then, the tone of the chatter changed from alarm to perplexity. The ship was apparently blowing up from the inside. All the starfighters were directed to head back towards the planet, away from the doomed control ship. The pilot had no qualms whatsoever with this course of action. Soon enough, shortly after one unidentified Naboo starfighter made its way out of the ship, the Trade Federation's grip on Naboo ended in a fiery display of destruction.
When the pilots landed, all of the pesky battle droids were inactive. The pilot was utterly astonished to learn that the one responsible for destroying the ship was none other than the boy they called Ani. Maybe the know-it-all attitude was an earned one.
Gossip travels fast in small circles, and the pilot was soon to learn that the taller Jedi Qui Gon Jinn had been killed in a ground battle with a foe whom died at the hands of the other Jedi. This did not seem related to the main battle, having no impact on it, but it was taken as quite a blow. The funeral service for the Jedi was small, but it was attended by some Jedi Masters, and this impressed the pilot. He wondered if his commanding officer, the abrupt one, would have attended such a service if he died. He doubted it.
The next day, a huge celebration was held in the capital. The day was bright and colorful, nothing like the drabness of Coruscant, the pilot noted. The queen, the real queen, presented the Gungan Boss Nass with some sort of ceremonial globe. The other Gungan, now known to the planet as Jar Jar Binks. (Where do they get these names?, the pilot wondered), celebrated as absurdly as he seemed to do everything else. The kid, with a full name of Anakin Skywalker, had finally received some new clothes and had a haircut. Apparently, saving the planet had its privileges. The Jedi Obi Wan was taking him back to Coruscant, but it was clear from the looks that the pilot saw them exchange that the queen would not have minded had he stayed on Naboo as an honored citizen. The day was full of color and light, happiness and hopefulness…nothing like the pilot's preceding days.
When the big day of celebration was over, the pilot again reflected on it, having more time to do so now. He did not know what the future held for the cast of characters with whom he had traveled, but some of them were sure to be heard from again. That Ani, or Anakin, had quite a future ahead of him, the pilot mused. He was already quite a pilot apparently, destroying one more control ship than anyone else ever had. If only he was a bit older, the queen may have taken a more serious liking to him. In any case, the pilot was sure that this Anakin Skywalker would always be welcome on Naboo. Yes, with that curious boy around, the pilot just knew that things would be alright.
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