Scene 13: Obi-Wan, Padme over his shoulder, runs through the corridors, making his way back to the hangar. Padme stirs, and begins pounding on Obi-Wan’s back. “Let me down!” she yells. Obi-Wan does, but checks her over for a moment. “Are you alright?” he asks.

“I’m fine, just rattled,” she says. The ship shakes with another bad hit. “What’s happening?”

“Your value to the Trade Federation seems to have depreciated,” Obi-Wan says, as they continue on. “My Master, Qui-Gon Jin, is holding off our attacker.” They reach the hangar bay, which has already been emptied out of any ships they may have used, besides droid fighters – except for the sleek silvery ship that was there. “Blast,” Obi-Wan says. “We’ll have to find another way off - I’m not familiar with that ship design.”

“I am,” Padme says, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward it. “I should be, it’s my ship!”

“What?” Obi-Wan asks, as they reach it.

“I was flying when they invaded,” she replies. “Captured me in a tractor beam, pulled me in.” She puts her palm against the ship’s surface, and ripples of light expand from the contact point. The ship’s seamless body splits open, exposing a walkway, and Padme and Obi-Wan rush inside.

There, they find themselves face-to-face with two battle droids, standing guard. Obi-Wan ignites his lightsaber, but before he can use it, the droids are electrocuted by an unknown source. As they crumple to the ground, everyone’s favorite Astromech droid rolls out, chirping happily at Padme.

“Artoo!” Padme calls to him, grinning. “Get the engines spun up, we’re getting out of here!” Artoo squeals, and turns down the corridor to do just that.

Padme and Obi-Wan make it to the cockpit, and Padme starts throwing switches to start the ship up.

We cut to an exterior shot, as Padme’s yacht flies out of the hangar bay, as a torpedo slams into the side of the Federation ship, triggering a series of explosions across the whole vessel.

Obi-Wan’s reaction at seeing this is one of immense pain. “Master…” he whispers.

Scene 14: The whole place is falling apart around the two lightsaber duelists, but their battle continues. Darth Maul fights with mad, exhilarating speed and intensity, while Qui-Gon counters with precise, smooth blocks and sweeps. This fight scene should visually illustrate the differences between the Sith and Jedi philosophy – passion against composure, aggression against peace.

“We’ll both die if we continue,” Qui-Gon says, calmly, even as he sweeps aside one of Maul’s attacks.

“Do you fear death, Jedi?” Maul demands.

“A Jedi fears nothing,” Qui-Gon replies. “But it is our duty to preserve all life.” An exchange of blows. “Even that of our enemies.”

“And that is why you are weak,” Maul snarls, and attacks with an acrobatic flurry of strikes.

Qui-Gon leaps back from the blows, and suddenly sheaths his lightsaber, shaking his head. “You do not understand,” he says, sadly. Then, just as Darth Maul moves in for the kill, Qui-Gon Force-pulls several chunks of debris between them, forming a grid-wall. Darth Maul swiftly begins cutting through this barrier, but by the time he gets through, Qui-Gon has disappeared. Maul shrieks in anger, as more of the corridor falls down around him.

Qui-Gon runs down the corridor until he locates an unused escape pod. He enters it, Force-sealing the hatch.

Cut to an exterior shot, as the pod rushes down towards Nabooine’s surface, just as Ship 217 finally explodes under the withering fire from its sister-ships.

Scene 15: Six droid fighters have pulled in behind the Queen’s yacht, licking blaster fire across the hull. We’ve moved away from the planet, now, but we’re still in range of the Federation’s blockade.

“Artoo, activate the hyperdrive!” Padme calls into a headset she’s wearing, as she yanks the controls back and forth, trying to dodge the fighters’ shots.

Artoo, in the ship’s engine room plugged into a terminal, bleeps something back at her.

Padme growls in frustration, turning to Obi-Wan. “They yanked the hyperdrive and the communications antennae!”

Obi-Wan, who has been holding on to the back of the Queen’s pilot chair, turns around, looking through the back of the ship’s bubble cockpit. He extends a hand, his face flushing and wincing with effort. He manages to jiggle one of the fighters a little, but it regains control, and swoops in for another attack. Obi-Wan’s powers are still not the equal of Qui-Gon’s, and it shows.

He gathers his will again, and tries once more. This time, he manages to send the fighter spinning away, right into the path of its compatriots’ blaster fire. As it explodes, we see the five remaining fighters sweep past the camera, showing us that our heroes aren’t out of the woods yet.

Padme throws the yacht into a spin, dodging another round of blasters, and then hits the brakes, and the fighters sweep past them. One of the fighters doesn’t quite react in time, and it clips its wing against the yacht. The yacht gets a nasty scrape, but the smaller fighter is done for – it goes spinning off into space.

Obi-Wan snags another fighter with the Force, and manages to actually shred the fighter in two parts. However, the Jedi is looking exhausted and tense now, grabbing Padme’s chair for support. Padme looks up at him, worried, and calls into her headset: “Artoo, boost all the power we’ve got into the engines, we’ve got to escape now!”

Sure enough, the yacht’s engines flare, and they start pulling away from the fighters. The fire doesn’t let up, however, and the ship continues to take hits. Padme grits her teeth, speeding them forward. The ship takes a hard hit, and the internal lights flicker for a moment. Things aren’t looking good…

…and then the three remaining fighters stop firing, their engines sputter out, and they start drifting forward, carried by their own inertia.

Scene 10: On the Federation command ship, a communications droid turns to face Ursana. “Commander, Ship 217 is reporting intruders – Two Jedi.”

Ursana spits something into a spittoon, and almost rises up from her command throne. “Blast! What about that girl-Queen, isn’t she on 217 as well?”

Droid: “Affirmative.”

Ursana’s face twists in disgust. “Bah. She’s more trouble than she’s worth… Order Ships 93 and 504 to destroy 217. We’ll take no chances with these Jedi!”

The ship’s living officers stare in shock at Ursana, but the droids simply carry out their tasks. Comm Droid: “Repeat, target Ship 217, fire at will.”

Scene 11: Qui-Gon, on the bridge of Ship 217, is interrogating the Federation commander. “The Queen? Amidala, she’s here?”

“Yes,” the Federation captain blubbers. “In the detention block. She was supposed to issue a full surrender, submit the planet to Federation rule, but… but now you two have gone and ruined all that, and I-”

Before he can finish whining, the ship is hit with a sudden, rocking blast. “What was that?” Qui-Gon asks.

“We’re being fired upon by Ship 93,” a droid answers. “Ship 504 is locking torpedoes on us.”

“What?!” the Federation commander yells. “They, they can’t, what?!”

“Get your people to escape pods!” Qui-Gon orders the commander. “Now!”

Before the commander can issue any orders, the bridge starts emptying itself, as people and droids alike run for exits. Qui-Gon himself, looks up, concern. “Obi-Wan…” he, too, runs out of the bridge, but not in the same direction as all the others.

Scene 12: Aaand, we’re back with more lightsaber fighting. Obi-Wan is starting to tire, and we can see that Maul is playing with him now, relishing what will soon be the kill. Even as the ship rocks and parts spark and fly away, Maul never turns his attention from vanquishing the young Jedi.

We can see on Obi-Wan’s face that he knows he’s lost already, but he refuses to give up – his swings become wilder, riskier, but not desperate – even now, he does not succumb to fear.

Just as Darth Maul seems ready to deliver the killing blow, he hesitates, and spins on his heel to block a blow from behind him – this time from Qui-Gon. The two begin their own duel.

“Go, Obi-Wan!” he yells. “Get her out of here!”

“Master, I-”

“Go!”

Obi-Wan hesitates a moment longer, watching the two battle, Maul now evenly matched with his opponent. Still, Obi-Wan manages to get himself together, and lifts the Queen over his shoulder, and makes a run for it.

We hold on Qui-Gon and Maul for a moment, their lightsabers crossed, sparking and humming with tension. “Who are you?” Qui-Gon demands.

“The beginning,” Maul replies, before swinging the other end of his lightsaber at Qui-Gon’s head. Qui-Gon blocks the attack, and the fight continues.

Scene 7: Obi-Wan is running down the corridor, but he skids to a halt, as two destroyer droids roll up before him, unfolding to deploy their shields and weapons. They start blasting away at Obi-Wan, who scampers back behind a bulkhead, looking around desperately to figure out where and how to escape. He finally leaps straight up (maybe a bit of a somersault to it, because, hey, Jedi) into an exposed ventilation shaft. The destroyers come about, searching around for him (but not looking up). Obi-Wan jumps down between them, then rolls away. The destroyers don’t react quite fast enough, and their powerful blasters overload one another’s shields, and they both go kablooie. Brushing himself off, Obi-Wan continues down the corridor.

His head snaps around, as if he’s hearing something off in the distance, and then he makes a turn, running for a locked door. He puts his hand up to it, as if feeling for vibration, and then, nodding to himself, begins slicing through the door with his lightsaber.

Inside, we see the young Queen standing in the middle of her detention cell, a dismembered battle droid’s arm-gun in her hands, a smoking ruin of droids all around her. “My thanks,” she says, nodding to Obi-Wan. “I was wondering how I was going to get out of here.”

“Queen Amidala,” Obi-Wan says, surprised. “I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, of the Jedi Order.”

Padme: “Thank the stars… you’re here to save our world? Has the Republic fleet arrived?”

Obi-Wan: “Um… not exactly. We sort of… crash-landed here.”

Padme: “Oh.” Pause. “Well, we have to get out of here, come on!” She rushes past Obi-Wan, who hurries to follow her back out into the corridor.

Scene 8: The Federation ship’s command center, a smaller, more cramped version of Ursana’s opulent command room, is in chaos, with reports of intruders ringing out all over the place, the ship’s commander looking on the verge of complete panic.

Naturally, the doors blow open around this time, smashing two battle droids, and Qui-Gon Jin enters the room, his hands clasped, appearing as calm and regal as possible. “Power down your defenses,” he proclaims. “I would prefer not to-”

“Kill him!” the commander shrieks. The battle droids open fire.

Qui-Gon goes from a perfect image of serenity to a flurry of action, his lightsaber suddenly in his hand and pinwheeling around to deflect blaster bolts. The command center erupts in sparks and blasts as the errant bolts fly about, and Trade Federation personnel duck for cover. The battle droids don’t have quite the same level of self-preservation, so they get torn up by their own blasts pretty good. Finally, the blasters cease, and Qui-Gon sheathes his lightsaber again, appearing perfectly calm once more.

“Now,” he says. “Who, may I ask, is in charge here?”

All eyes turn to the commander, who tries to hide behind a console.

Qui-Gon’s lips twitch in a bit of a smile.

Scene 9: Obi-Wan and Padme are running for the hangar bay, but when they get there, the shadowy figure from before is waiting for them. “So,” he says. “The Jedi have sent one of their padawans to die. Where is your master, boy?”

Obi-Wan stares at the figure, confused and frightened, but he ignites his lightsaber nevertheless. “Stay behind me, your Highness,” he says. “I’ll deal with this-”

“Oh, please,” Darth Maul says, and extends his own lightsaber (just one blade, for now), and attacks Obi-Wan, a glancing, testing flurry of blows. “You’re barely old enough to wield a lightsaber.”

Obi-Wan slashes back, a wild attack which nevertheless forces Maul back a step. During the attack, Maul’s hood flies back from his head, and we are exposed to the full horror of the Sith Knight’s visage. Maul grins. The other end of his lightsaber extends, and Obi-Wan’s eyes flare with surprise and fear. Darth Maul proceeds to very nearly kill Obi-Wan several times, with Obi-Wan just barely escaping.

Darth Maul extends his hand and clenches it into a fist, Force-pulling Obi-Wan towards him, his lightsaber swinging forward to kill the young Jedi. Just as it looks like the end for Obi-Wan, Darth Maul swings his lightsaber around, in order to deflect the bolts from Padme’s appropriated blaster. Darth Maul sneers at her, and Force-smashes the Queen into a bulkhead. She is knocked out, but before Darth Maul can finish her off, Obi-Wan gets up and lays into him again, crying out to get the Sith Knight’s attention. The fight continues, but the scene shifts in the middle of Obi-Wan’s swing, leaving us on a mini-cliffhanger.

Scene 2: High above Tatooine, the binary stars off in the distance, a small, unmarked vessel (perhaps a sleeker, early-model Corellian freighter?) shoots past the planet at extreme speed, heading toward the brighter sun. This is Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s ship.

Obi-Wan sits at the controls, looking nervous. Qui-Gon, of course, is a picture of bemused serenity.

“Seven years you have been my apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Qui-Gon says. “Never have I seen you so agitated.”

“I have a bad feeling about all of this, Master Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan replies. “An entire planet gone completely silent, cut off from the entire galaxy? Beyond that, a planet as important as Nabooine? Surely that is cause for worry!”

“It is cause for concern, yes,” Qui-gon replies. “Worry? Worry never helps, my young padawan. Worry leads to fear, and fear leads-”

“leads to anger, anger to hate, and hate to suffering,” Obi-Wan finishes, sounding like he’s heard it a million times before. “I do remember my first lessons – it was only seven years ago.” He does seem a bit more relaxed now.

“Of course,” Qui-Gon says, smiling. “Nothing wrong with your memory. Now… what concerns you about what is happening?”

“It is as I said, Master. Naboo is the largest trading world in the Republic, trillions of credits, millions of people and thousands of starships pass through there every day – and yet, all that have in the last three days, have not been seen or heard from since. It’s like something traps them as soon as they come out of hyperspace.”

“Which is precisely why we aren’t traveling that way,” Qui-Gon nods. “Who do you suspect is behind this?”

“It could only be the Trade Federation,” Obi-Wan says, confident but not exactly liking the idea. “They hate Senator Palpatine, and doing something to stop the trade around his home planet would certainly hurt him… but why? They must know this will hurt themselves, in the long run.”

“Never underestimate the persuasive power of greed, padawan. It is as pervasive, and as corrupting, as any aspect of the Dark Side.”

Obi-Wan visibly shivers at the mention of this half of the Force. “Master, do you mean it could… do you think-”

“I think,” Qui-Gon says, “that you should cut our engines now – we’re approaching Nabooine, and we’ll have to drift in on minimal power to avoid being seen.”

Obi-Wan masters himself, and presses buttons. “Yes, Master.”

The Jedi ship’s engines go dim, but the ship continues forward – as the camera follows it, we begin to see a lush, blue dot, the planet Nabooine, come into view.

Scene 3: Inside a darkened, harsh-looking detention cell, we see a young Queen Padme Amidala, surrounded by battle droid guards, staring down a trio of Federation delegates.

“As you have seen, your Highness,” one of them says, overblown and overconfident, “your world is at our mercy. For now, we are content to merely cease your trade… It would be terribly unfortunate if we had to resort to more, direct, methods.”

“I’ll make no surrender, and offer no negotiation,” Padme says, angry but dignified. “This is an illegal act, and the Republic will hear of it, and put an end to it.”

“Ah, but how long until that happens? What indignities will your people endure before your precious Republic swoops in to save you… Unless, of course, you choose to forego all of that.”

Padme is gravely silent.

The lead delegate continues, though a bit slower, not as confident under Padme’s gaze. “All we ask is your cooperation – a greater tithe of your world’s trade, an end to your blatant disregard of the Federation’s legitimate business interests… and the recall of Senator Palpatine from Coruscant.”

“That’s all this is?” Padme asks, laughing despite herself. “This is all about your grudge with the Senator? You’re pathetic.”

“And you are ignorant,” a voice hisses from a shadow deeper within the room. A figure in a black robe and hood steps forward, a long lightsaber handle swinging from the robe’s belt. Only his mouth and chin, black and red mottled, can be seen. The delegates, and even some of the battle droids, step further away as he approaches Padme. “There is far more to this than you can even imagine… your Highness.”

Padme swallows, but recovers herself. “I am Queen Padme Amidala, the rightful ruler of Nabooine… and I will not be intimidated by some Trade Federation lackey!”

The figure snarls, and Padme is forced up against the bulkhead, her feet dangling over the floor. She isn’t being choked, but very forcefully lifted. “Do not presume to know me, little Queen,” the figure says. “Make the right choice… or you, and your people, will suffer.”

Slowly, Padme is let down, as the figure (Darth Maul, though he is not fully revealed yet) walks, robes billowing, out of the holding cell.

The delegates turn back to Padme. “So, your Highness… do we have your cooperation?”

Padme glares at them, but we can see that she is scared, now.