by Ian Doescher
Say wherefore, then, can you not see it, too?
QUI-GON
What Fate prepares for him is still unclear.
In troth, he is no danger, Obi-Wan.
The council shall his future settle, not
Both thou and I contending o’er what’s true.
I prithee, let these words suffice for thee
And board the waiting ship; we soon fly hence.
[Exit Obi-Wan.
Have I been blinded by ambition’s light?
If it is so, it is a grievous fault,
And grievously I may yet answer it.
Yet this small child hath captur’d all my thoughts
As I have not for ages been consum’d.
I feel a presence in him that doth stir
My blood and sounds the call of destiny
To meet, befriend, and train this noble lad.
I trust the Jedi Council, yet they did
Not see his exploits in the podracing.
Their judgment is distorted by his age;
They see his fear, yet not his aptitude.
I am a Jedi, bound by discipline,
Yet in this matter I shall press the bounds
To bring their hesitation to assent.
In doing so, I earn a double share:
The boy is train’d in all the Jedi arts,
The council stretches and in wisdom grows,
And I do reap the benefit of both.
Thus I desire, and trust the Force shall soon
Fulfill this noble—if ambitious—work.
Enter ANAKIN SKYWALKER and R2-D2.
ANAKIN
I would not be a problem, Qui-Gon, sir.
QUI-GON
I’ll warrant thou wilt never problem be.
As yet, I am not given leave to train
Thee, but do ask thee to be mindful and
To watch o’er ev’ry move thou seest me make.
Remember, if thou canst: thy focus doth
Determine what shall be reality.
Stay by my side and e’er shalt thou be safe.
ANAKIN
If I may yet another question ask
Of midi-chlorians wise Yoda spoke—
Such term is unfamiliar to mine ears,
Pray tell me, what are midi-chlorians?
QUI-GON
Once our vast galaxy did come to be,
Life came to being, wondrous miracle.
The energy of all potential life
Was bas’d in these first creatures, which did spread
And soon infusèd ev’ry living thing.
These masters of abundant, pure life force
We now know as the midi-chlorians.
The midi-chlorians are life-forms small,
Yea, microscopic are they, and reside
In ev’ry living being, in the cells.
ANAKIN
They live within my body?
QUI-GON
—Aye, inside.
All living things are symbionts with them.
ANAKIN
From one strange word unto another, sir—
I prithee, tell me what are symbionts?
QUI-GON
Two life-forms that together dwell as one,
Each make the other stronger when they’re join’d,
And both do benefit in the exchange.
These, then, are symbionts. Thus, if there were
No midi-chlorians, life would be naught.
And neither would we know the Force’s pow’r.
If we but listen, they e’er speak to us
And tell us of the Force and what it wills.
As thou dost learn to quiet thine own mind,
Thou shalt, like whisper’d poetry, hear their
Majestic voices ringing in thine ears.
’Tis like a music written for thy soul,
A symphony of words compos’d for thee.
ANAKIN
’Tis difficult to comprehend this news.
QUI-GON
O, thou art not alone, if thou canst not
The midi-chlorians yet understand.
Yet be thou patient and, in time, thou shalt.
ANAKIN
[aside:] If I have heard aright, it seems to me
The midi-chlorians make a tough cell.
Enter QUEEN AMIDALA and JAR JAR BINKS.
QUI-GON
Your Majesty, it is our honor to
Continue in your service and defense.
AMIDALA
Your aid is fully welcome. Palpatine
Believes I do but flee the frying pot
To face the Federation’s fire at home.
QUI-GON
Whilst you are in my charge, I’ll chill the threat
Of any Federation flames that rise.
As long as I have breath, I’ll guard your life.
JAR JAR
Hurrah! Now weesa goin’ homee!
AMIDALA
Methinks it may be trouble we pursue—
If so, we fly to battle on Naboo.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 6.
On the planet Naboo and aboard the Naboo cruiser.
Enter NUTE GUNRAY and RUNE HAAKO on balcony, with DARTH SIDIOUS in beam.
SIDIOUS
Have you the planet verily secur’d?
NUTE
We’ve ta’en control of all the remnants of
The primitives that o’er the planet roam.
Naboo is now in our complete command.
SIDIOUS
’Tis well. I shall, for my part, cause such stalls
Within the Senate that all shall remain
Just as it is. The status quo shall hold.
To be assur’d of your continu’d strength,
I shall send my apprentice, e’en Darth Maul,
To help maintain your power o’er Naboo.
NUTE
Indeed, my lord.
[Exit Darth Sidious from beam.
RUNE
—A Sith shall hither come?
Now doth a madness new before us rise.
[Exeunt Nute and Rune from balcony.
Enter OBI-WAN KENOBI, RIC OLIÉ, and ANAKIN SKYWALKER aside, in the cockpit of the Naboo cruiser.
RIC
Those do control the forward stabilizers.
ANAKIN
And these control the pitch?
RIC
—They do, indeed.
Thou art a student quick and most astute.
Enter QUI-GON JINN, QUEEN AMIDALA, JAR JAR BINKS, and CAPTAIN PANAKA.
PANAKA
once we do land, the Federation shall
Arrest your royal person, bind you as
A common criminal, and force you then
To sign their awful treaty.
QUI-GON
—I agree.
I do not see what profit comes of this.
AMIDALA
I shall but even out our bottom line,
And take back what belongs to us by right.
’Tis not for profit, but for justice’s sake.
PANAKA
We few, we happy few, are but too few.
We have no army that can match their count.
QUI-GON
I can protect you, but can fight no war.
AMIDALA
’Tis understood. I call on Jar Jar Binks.
JAR JAR
You wantin’ meesa, Youra Highness?
AMIDALA
I do. The queen hath need of thy kind help.
[Obi-Wan, Ric, and Anakin join the others.
RIC
As we did land, a battleship was seen
Upon our scopes—a single one, ’tis true,
Yet one shall be enough to give us chase.
OBI-WAN
It was a droid control ship, orbiting.
PANAKA
Belike they saw us as we landing made.
OBI-WAN
To make it brief: time runneth short for us.
[Exe
unt.
Enter RUMOR.
RUMOR
Below, upon the ground, a hope doth wait,
E’en as the ship doth land, all have new fears.
Herein all those on board shall find their fate—
O, how it frightfully unknown appears.
Look now, as I do make their hearts afraid,
Determin’d, yet deterr’d by all their doubt.
The final act shall on Naboo be play’d,
Hath Rumor set the pieces to work out?
E’en now, the Jedi start to doubt their place:
Guards they shall be unto the queen no more.
Uniting these two people face-to-face—
Naboo’s hopes to ensure—is not their chore.
Good soldiers of the queen become nonpluss’d
And e’en Queen Amidala, in her breast,
Now hath, by Rumor’s will, more doubt than trust:
Shall they on Jar Jar all their future rest?
Enter QUI-GON JINN and OBI-WAN KENOBI.
OBI-WAN
Toward the Gungan city Jar Jar’s gone.
QUI-GON
’Tis well.
OBI-WAN
—Think you the queen’s idea shall fly?
QUI-GON
The Gungans shall not easily be sway’d;
Thus let us hope the urgency’s enough
To give wing to Her Majesty’s idea.
We cannot use the pow’r we have to help,
As we are peacekeepers, not warring men.
OBI-WAN
Good Master, what e’er comes, I’d have you know:
For my behavior I apologize.
’Tis not my place to disagree with you
About the boy, and hearty thanks I feel
That you should think me ready for the trials.
QUI-GON
Thou art a keen apprentice, Obi-Wan,
And art a wiser man by leagues than I.
’Tis clear, as I upon the waters of
Thy future gaze, that thou shalt navigate
What is to come with grace, be pilot of
A wondrous course, a winsome Jedi Knight.
Enter JAR JAR BINKS (from water), SABÉ dressed as Queen Amidala, PADMÉ, ANAKIN SKYWALKER, R2-D2, CAPTAIN PANAKA, RIC OLIÉ, other NABOO SOLDIERS, and, separately, MEMBERS OF THE QUEEN’S COURT.
JAR JAR
Nobody’s dere! De Gungan city
Deserted is. Some fight, me thinkin’.
OBI-WAN
Think’st thou they have been taken to the camps,
Where Federation’s foes are all intern’d?
PANAKA
Belike the Gungans all have been destroy’d.
JAR JAR
Yet meesa nowee think so, Captain.
QUI-GON
Dost know where they may be, meek Jar Jar? Eh?
JAR JAR
When trouble come, they go place sacred.
Come, meesa show you it! Come withee!
All journey to the Gungan sacred site. Enter BOSS NASS, other GUNGAN BOSSES, and CAPTAIN TARPALS.
TARPALS
Your honor, wise Boss Nass, I do present
Queen Amidala, ruler of Naboo.
JAR JAR
Hello, de big Boss Nass, your honor.
NASS
o, Jar Jar Binks, now who’s da uss-en uthers?
SABÉ
I am Queen Amidala of Naboo.
I come before your royal court in peace.
NASS
Naboo biggen. Youse bringin’ mackineeks,
And yousa bringin’ trouble, all bombad.
SABÉ
We humbly come before you to suggest
Betwixt our peoples an alliance strong.
PADMÉ
Your honor.
NASS
—Whosa diss? And why she speak?
PADMÉ
I am Queen Amidala. This is but
My decoy, my protection, loyal guard.
She speaketh for me when it serves the time,
But you, Boss Nass, deserve the rightful queen.
QUI-GON
[aside:] The handmaiden had play’d a hidden hand,
And dealt us all an unexpected shock.
PADMÉ
For this deception, my apology;
’Twas necessary to protect myself.
Your honor, hear my deferential plea:
Though our two peoples have not e’er agreed,
Our two societies have liv’d in peace.
The vile Trade Federation hath destroy’d
All we have work’d so ardently to build.
If action is not swift, all shall be lost.
I call on you to help us. [Kneeling:] Nay, I beg—
A queen’s humility giv’n for your aid.
Myself and those with me are servants now.
[The Naboo, the Jedi, and Anakin Skywalker kneel.
You work the loom of our yet unknown fate.
NASS
Ha! Yousa nowa thinkin’ yousa great
Beyond de Gungans now. Me lika dis!
Mayhap shall be dat weesa bein’ friends.
PANAKA
I shall away, to learn what may be found
That may be advantageous to our cause.
[Exit Captain Panaka. The Gungans and the Naboo embrace and then begin forming battle lines.
Enter NUTE GUNRAY, RUNE HAAKO, and DARTH MAUL on balcony, with DARTH SIDIOUS in beam.
NUTE
Our strong patrols have been sent forth, my lord.
Their starship in the swamplands hath been found.
It shall not be too long ere they’re destroy’d.
SIDIOUS
An unexpected play this is for her.
’Tis too aggressive. [To Darth Maul:] Mindful be,
Lord Maul.
Pray, let them be the first to make a move.
MAUL
Indeed, my master, just as you do say.
SIDIOUS
She is more foolish than I e’er did think.
NUTE
All troops have been dispatch’d unto the swamp
Where she with her small force assembles now.
It doth appear she’s join’d with primitives.
SIDIOUS
This shall be an advantage to us, quite.
NUTE
I may proceed, then?
SIDIOUS
—Yea. Destroy them all,
Erase all trace or memory of them.
[Exeunt Nute Gunray, Rune Haako, Darth Maul, and Darth Sidious from beam.
NASS
[to Jar Jar:] O, yousa doin’ grand, good Jar Jar. You
Hat uss-en and Naboo together brought.
Thus, weesa make you bombad general!
JAR JAR
A general! O meeso happy!
Enter CAPTAIN PANAKA with several NABOO SOLDIERS.
QUI-GON
Good Captain, how doth our position stand?
PANAKA
They have ta’en nearly ev’ryone to camps.
There are, as yet, some hundreds who have form’d
An underground resistance movement here.
Full many as I could, I’ve hither brought.
So far’s the news that we may count as good,
Yet there is more that rings a grimmer note:
The Federation’s army is more vast
And far more pow’rful than we first bethought.
Your Highness, I believe we’ll not prevail—
I fear this battle may undo us quite.
PADMÉ
This battle’s but a side dish to the main—
A savory diversion to the feast.
The truer course shall elsewhere be array’d,
A table we shall in the city set.
Keen R2-D2, furnish us the plans.
[R2-D2 projects a beam showing a map of the city.
The Gungans hither draw the droidly throng,
Whilst we make way into the city by
The hidden passage near the waterfalls.
Once we obtain unto the entrance main,
Panaka shall a new diversion craft.
This being done, we others shall go forth
Into the palace, capturing the viceroy.
Sans him, they shall be lost and sore confus’d,
And thus, the day is ours. What do you think?
QUI-GON
A cunning plan, if all doth go as hop’d.
The viceroy shall be guarded thoroughly.
PANAKA
It shall take pains the throne room to obtain,
But once therein, it shall be easier.
QUI-GON
There is an ample possibility
That in this action many Gungans fall.
NASS
Ahh, weesa all prepar’d to do ours part.
PADMÉ
We have a plan that shall immobilize
The army of the droids. Our pilots brave
Shall fly unto the droid control ship, which
E’en now doth make its orbit, and destroy
It utterly, disabling all the droids.
QUI-GON
A plan most well-conceiv’d, and dangerous.
The risks are bounteous, as well you know.
Your fighters’ weapons may not penetrate
The large ship’s shields.
OBI-WAN
—An even greater risk:
If it doth happen that the viceroy ’scapes,
He shall another army bring to bear.
PADMÉ
’Tis clear, then, why we must the viceroy take—
No different conclusion shall suffice.
Upon that ending all our hopes begin.
R2-D2
Beep, squeak! [Aside:] O, cause most noble—may it rise!