CUT TO:
Qui-Gon in his quarters in the Nabooan cruiser. He suddenly becomes alert.
OBI-WAN (very quiet, off screen, Force voice): help...help me...
Rack focus from Qui-Gon, as Ransom gets up from where he was sleeping in a nearby bunk.
RANSOM (to Qui-Gon): Obi-Wan.
QUI-GON: Yes, I hear him, too.
RANSOM: I don't understand. How--?
QUI-GON: Patience. When the time is right.
Qui-Gon leaves the quarters in a hurry, and Ransom sighs in frustration. ODD-1's whimpering is little consolation.
INT. NABOO CRUISER - BRIDGE
Cut to the Nabooan cruiser's bridge as Qui-Gon enters, accompanied by an officer. MEDORA is examining the planetary map hologram and the pattern of red X's on it with a frown. Beyond, the pilot and navigator and a viewport showing a dark and watery tunnel.
LIEUTENANT RIX: Captain? He says it's urgent.
QUI-GON: I was hoping we could make a detour.
MEDORA: Huh. Better be important.
QUI-GON: A second Jedi joining our forces?
CRICKET (from somewhere overhead): Aha! Always in twos.
MEDORA: Go on.
QUI-GON (eyeing the map): May I?
She nods, and Qui-Gon manipulates the map, rotating the planet, concentrates for a moment, lets the Force guide his fingers, allowing them fall on a certain body of water near a mountain range.
QUI-GON: Here.
She considers the spot, then whether she can trust the Jedi. After a moment she steps to a console and dials in the coordinates quickly.
MEDORA (sighs): This better not be a mistake.
CRICKET: Don't worry, Medora. I'm watching him.
Qui-Gon raises his eyes at the Crackling and cocks his head slightly, as if honored.
CUT TO:
EXT. NABOO LAKESIDE - TWILIGHT
Cut back to the blasted lakeshore where the Sith's Star Courier had strafed and bombed the impetuous young Jedi Apprentice. Obi-Wan has pulled himself up on the smoldering lakeshore, water lapping around him as he groans in pain. Some time has passed since the attack and it's a litter darker now. The cruiser's small advance probe skims over the surface of the water, finds him, and looks him over. Obi-Wan watches it helplessly. Then the water parts around the reflective hull of the emerging cruiser, and he watches with wonder. The ramp lowers and Nabooan Royal guardsmen rush out and drag Obi-Wan onboard.
CUT TO:
INT. NABOO CRUISER
The guards help Obi-Wan enter the ship.
NABOOAN ROYAL GUARD: He's in bad shape. Burns all over.
QUI-GON: What happened?
OBI-WAN: I was attacked. By a Sith.
QUI-GON (unsettled): A Sith? Are you sure?
Obi-Wan nods, exhausted. Ransom, Slate, ODD-1, and Medora crowd around now, too. ODD-1 says 'hi' worriedly, but Obi-Wan doesn't even have the strength to bat him away.
YOU ARE READING
STAR WARS - Episode I: Millennium's Dawn
Science FictionThis is a piece of fan fiction imagining what might have happened if 1999's Episode I: The Phantom Menace was rewritten. I kept elements from the film which I liked and freely invented new ones as I saw fit. I wanted to recapture the magic of the or...
