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| - This was better than Nute Gunray had expected, Maxah was busy engaging the Jedi while the third was being brought up his prisoner along with Queen Nalanda. Inwardly he congratulated himself on such a swift and favourable outcome, the added bonus he could convince Nalanda without the interfering Sith. Yet it was not Queen Nalanda with her noticeable face paint and elaborate clothing that was brought up by the droids, but one of her handmaidens. Yet…from the distinctive way she carried herself, as well as the fact the girl Jedi was with her… “Your Highness?” Gunray asked. “Viceroy,” Nalanda confirmed. That settled, his tone instantly grew more authoritative. “Your little insurrection is over, Your Highness. The rabble army you sent against us had been crushed and the other Jedi are being dealt with elsewhere. You are now my captive.” “Am I?” Nalanda asked incredulously. “Yes, you are,” spat Gunray. “It is time for you to put an end to the pointless debate you instigated in the Senate. Now you must sign the treaty.” “Viceroy!” shouted a familiar voice from a doorway slightly behind him. Gunray turned, it was Queen Nalanda! She pointed a blaster at him. “Your occupation here has finished!” She fired a shot, several droids instantly responded. “After her!” Gunray thundered. “This one is a decoy!” Padmé took full advantage of his distraction, summoning her lightsaber to her hand with the Force and leaping onto the Viceroy. As the green blade edged towards his throat, Gunray noticed Nalanda behind Padmé with a blaster ready. And from these close quarters he could tell it was the real one. “Lock the doors!” Nalanda ordered, and once they could be assured of no interruptions Padmé retreated so Nalanda could step forward. “And now, Viceroy,” the Queen said triumphantly, “we will discuss a new treaty.” Obi-Wan glowered through the laser walls separating him from his Master, furious with himself for underestimating the Sith and furious with Qui-Gon for rushing ahead. Yet there was a nagging voice at the back of his mind that this battle should have finished long ago, yet was it more to do with the fact that Maxah had matched them? Or perhaps, and this was the frightening thought, that his Master could be faltering? He would have to be quick when the lasers deactivated so once again he could fight at his Qui-Gon’s side. Together they could defeat the Sith, he knew that with every fibre of his being. Yet if Qui-Gon fell… At that instant the lasers parted and Obi-Wan was rushing down the corridor, his twirling lightsaber in a wide arc. He stopped short as the last laser cut into place, trapped and forced to watch his Master engage Maxah. In the circular chamber that circled a pit, Qui-Gon found new reserves of energy and forced the Sith back towards the overhang. Maxah span her lightsaber, defending and attacking in two fluid motions intending for the Jedi Master to retreat. But Qui-Gon didn’t retreat, he brought her lightsaber diagonally along his body engaging the Sith so close that if Maxah were to use the other blade of her lightsaber it would mean her own death. Seething with rage, Maxah back-flipped over the pit, but Qui-Gon followed her. She moved with lightning speed, matching each blow with a step forward and bringing the duel once more in her favour. Qui-Gon responded instantly, matching her ripostes with barely-concealed strain. He moved to attack again as Maxah pirouetted away from him, showing the Jedi Master her back. As Qui-Gon brought his weapon down she made a blind, reverse lunge right through him. “Noooo!” Obi-Wan screamed as he saw the red lightsaber blade impale Qui-Gon through the chest. Qui-Gon made a soft groan and then crumpled to the floor, his lightsaber deactivating as it fell out of his grip and clattered down beside him. For some reason—either fate or miracle—Danta managed to land on the Federation tank he had felled. He grabbed the spear but could only fight with one hand, the other having been injured as he had tried to break his fall. Yet even not on the back of his flyer, Danta was loathe to be taken willingly. Some called this bravado or even plain stupidity, but Danta knew that he would rather die fighting than in any other way, even to the most hopeless of causes. Willing the starfighter to sink beneath to some safer place, Anakin was trapped and defenceless inside the cockpit. “Can’t you do something Artoo?” he pleaded with the little droid. “Where is your pilot?” asked one of the droids. Artoo beeped in reply. “You are the pilot?” The astromech droid whistled affirmatively. There was a confused pause. “Show me your identification.” Anakin dared to take a peek at the control panel, there was a moment of clicking and whirring then it returned to life. “Yeah!” Anakin said with a grin. “It’s working!” He threw the ignition and the engines thundered to life. Quickly he sat upright and reached for the steering. “Leave the cockpit immediately or we will disable your craft!” threatened the battle droid. “I don’t think so!” Anakin countered, throwing switches. “Shields up!” The starfighter rose from the hanger floor, throwing off the droids in a crumpled heap. The remainder of them started firing. “We’ll show ‘em!” Anakin said to Artoo, firing on the droids with such exhilaration that they did not even think to flee. Then behind the piles of droids, Anakin felt a flash of danger. His fingers moved of their own accord, firing at impossible speed yet he was hardly aware of it. He reacted without thinking, without even aware he was doing anything. Something told him what to do, a voice whispered to him which buttons to press, and when to press them. Suddenly his hand dropped to a double-hinged switch below. Instantly a pair of torpedoes were emitted from his starfighter speeding towards the danger he had sensed. They passed the droids, some fighters and sank into a broad vent right at the end. Suddenly Anakin became aware of what was happening. Cursing himself for missing those last two shots, he turned his fighter around and threw the throttle all the way forward, speeding towards the exit to the hangar. From the moment Obi-Wan’s ‘saber clashed with Maxah’s, the young Jedi knew they would have to be on equal terms in order for him to gain the upper hand of her fight. So instead of targeting the Sith’s body, Obi-Wan instead targeted her weapon. Hoping that perhaps if he sliced it in half her lightsaber might not work at all. Yet Maxah seemed to sense this and she moved faster, twirling the weapon before her like a deadly turbine. She then lunged low, yet Obi-Wan was ready for this, using the Force to give him more height he flipped over Maxah, attacking her from the back. Maxah quickly blocked this shot, spinning around to face Obi-Wan and kicking him in the head. As Obi-Wan fell he felt the red lightsaber graze the side of his tunic, quickly he drew on the Force to steady himself and finished his descent with a smooth roll, incidentally touching Qui-Gon’s prone form. Again, Obi-Wan targeted the barrel of her weapon, yet Maxah twisted it out of his reach and launched a strike at his neck so Obi-Wan was forced to shrink back. Inwardly he seethed, feeling his body wearying and the feeling overcoming him that soon he would join his Master on the ground. No! the words broke through Obi-Wan’s despair, I will not give in, he told himself. I will fight to the end, even if it is the end of me. Like his Master had told him many, many times, Obi-Wan called on the living Force to give himself strength. In a sudden show of might, he quickly attacked Maxah from the side. Then he feinted left, and as Maxah brought her lightsaber horizontal to meet his attack, he sliced the weapon cleanly in two. Then, with a flash of triumph in his eyes, he turned his weapon of the Sith’s head. And missed completely. Maxah had stepped aside just in time. With a smile, she took up the remaining half of her lightsaber and attacked Obi-Wan with such power that it knocked him off-balance. With a kick he fell to the ground and fell over the edge of the pit, hanging on a metal bar just below the lip. “You forgot something,” Maxah murmured, kicking his lightsaber down after him. Obi-Wan groped for the weapon, but it fell beyond his reach and out of sight. “Now this is podracing!” Anakin cried with a grin as he shot out of the droid control ship, the way completely clear to Naboo. “Fighter leaving the control ship,” said an official-sounding but strangely familiar voice, “what is your insignia?” “Look at the control ship!” exclaimed another pilot. “It’s blowing up from the inside!” “This is Bravo Leader,” said the official voice, “unidentified fighter please respond.” “Um, it’s me,” Anakin said in a small voice, hoping against everything that he wouldn’t be noticed but the big explosion behind him was ruining that. “It’s me, Anakin. I hope I'm not in trouble.” Ric Olié laughed into the communicator. “You’re not in trouble, kid!” he told Anakin. “You've won it for us!” Over the com Anakin heard the pilots yell in victory as they flew towards the planet. With a broad smile, Anakin joined in. The Gungan army had been completely surrounded by the droids, they were being led off in large groups with their hands in the air. Even General Ceel had surrendered, but not Danta. He was still fighting, despite the broken hand, when for no reason at all the droids fell to the ground. The tanks halted, STAPs crashed. “Whatsa these?” Ceel asked Danta. Danta picked up one of the droids, it showed no resistance as he shook it as hard as he could. “Theysa broken,” Danta concluded, then raised his voice so all could hear. “Wesa win!” The Gungans joined him cheering, waving their hands in the air. Disarmed, helpless, but not defeated, Obi-Wan closed his eyes and felt once again for the living Force. It was there, it always had been as Qui-Gon as said. It told him that Maxah was above him, slashing her lightsaber across the floor in preparation for the killing blow. It told him that Qui-Gon was near, weakened but not dead. The living Force also told him that near by, was his Master’s lightsaber. Letting the Force completely direct his actions, Obi-Wan propelled himself up in a flip and landed behind Maxah. As his feet touched the durasteel the lightsaber fell into his hand. Maxah turned to confront him, her mouth open with shock. Her weapon held at an angle, completely defenceless. This was all the time Obi-Wan needed to slash her across the chest, a blood-red mist following the path of his blade. With a final shrill cry she fell into the open pit, her lightsaber tumbling after her. Obi-Wan only watched her for a moment, when he was sure she was gone he was on his knees beside his Master. Tentatively he touched the gaping wound, yet it did not take much penetration in the Force to discern the life ebbing from Qui-Gon’s body. “No!” Obi-Wan cried in disbelief, a reluctant tear trickling down his cheek and onto his Master’s face. “It’s too late, Padawan,” gasped Qui-Gon, opening his fading eyes. “Master, you can’t leave me,” the apprentice pleaded. “You’ve become more than I hoped you to be, Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon breathed. “But now you must be the teacher. Promise me,” he said, touching another of Obi-Wan’s tears, “promise me you will train the boy.” “Yes, Master,” Obi-Wan assented, willing to do anything and everything, desperate to save him. “He is…the Chosen One,” Qui-Gon faltered, “he will…bring balance. Train him well.” “I will, Master,” Obi-Wan promised, “I won’t fail you.” With his eyes locked on his Padawan, Qui-Gon breathed his last. Obi-Wan could feel the life and strength flow out of him. “Master,” Obi-Wan pleaded, but he knew it was no use. Qui-Gon was gone. As Anakin was relating the story of his part in the space battle to Padmé, she suddenly started and looked off into the distance. She could feel…it was like when her Master had died. That brief flash through the Force, the cry of pain and then…silence. As Gunray signed the treaty she had felt Darth Maxah die, the disturbance in the Force was unmistakable. But this… “What’s happened?” Anakin as tugging her sleeve, his eyes were wide and sad-looking. Padmé felt through the Force, trying to give Anakin an answer but failing even to get one for herself. “Something terrible has happened,” she murmured.
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