Back on Naboo, it was dark, and Gunray and Haako were having another chat with Lord Sidious, who asked them if they had the planet secured.

"We have taken over the last pockets of primitive life dorms," said Gunray. "We are in complete control of the planet now."

Sidious was pleased with that response.

"Good. I will see to it that in the senate things stay as they are. I am sending my apprentice, Darth Maul, to join you."

"Yes, my lord."

And with that, the call was ended.

However, although Gunray was confident, Haako thought the former had gone bonkers.

"A Sith here?" Haako gasped.

_________________________________

In space, the royal starship continued to fly. Anakin got to sit in the cockpit to learn a little more about the ship. The captain showed Anakin how the forward stabilizers worked.

"And those two control the pitch?" said Anakin.

"You catch on pretty quick." smiled the pilot.

It wasn't everyday they had such a curious mind on board.

Shmi, dressed as a handmaiden, took a look at her son and could sense that he was having a good time. At the moment, unsure of where else to send Shmi, the queen said that Shmi could start working as a handmaiden until she found other work elsewhere if she wished. It sounded like a good offer; she wouldn't have to have a transmitter in her body, which was a huge perk. She only hoped they two of them and the others made it out of this adventure in one piece.

___________________________

Queen Amidala sat in her throne, donning a lavish purple outfit as Panaka discussed an important matter with her.

"As soon as we land," said Panaka. "The Federation will arrest you and force you to sign the treaty."

"I agree," said Qui-Gon. "I'm not sure what you wish to accomplish by this."

"I will take back what's ours." said the queen.

"There are too few of us, Your Highness," said the captain. "We have no army."

"And I can only protect you." Qui-Gon added. "I can't fight a war for you."

The queen was silent for a moment, and then she called for Jar Jar Binks.

"Mesa, Your Highness?" Jar Jar said, just as surprised as the others.

"Yes. I need your help."

No one was sure what the queen was planning to have Jar Jar do, but at this point they had to believe that she wouldn't do anything without a good reason.

Shmi, however, got worried. If things were as bad as they sounded, was it really wise to bring Anakin into all this? It was terrifying enough when Watto would make her boy compete in the dangerous pod races, but a full-on battle? Pod racing was child's play compared to this.

Qui-Gon held Shmi's shoulders and told her, "Don't worry, my dear. I will do everything in my power to ensure Anakin's safety."

____________________________

Prepping to arrive at Naboo, the pilot caught something on the scanners

"I have one battleship on my scope."

Obi-Wan looked at the scanners and confirmed the ship to be a droid control ship.

"They've probably spotted us," the pilot hypothesized.

"We haven't much time," said Obi-Wan.

__________________________

The ship soon came to land, and on the queen's orders, everyone got to their stations.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan met in the forest, where Obi-Wan notified Qui-Gon that Jar Jar was on his way to the gungan city.

"Good." Qui-Gon said.

"Do you think the queen's idea will work?" Obi-Wan asked, slightly anxious.

"The Gungans will not be easily swayed. And we cannot use our power to help her."

Obi-Wan, however, had something else on his mind besides the probability of success in the queen's plan.

"I'm- I'm sorry for my behavior, Master. It's not my place to disagree with you about the boy." That prompted Qui-Gon to look at his Padawan's eyes. "And I am grateful you think I'm ready to take the trials."

Qui-Gon smiled slightly and said, "You've been a good apprentice, Obi-Wan." He held Obi-Wan's shoulder. "And you are a much wiser man than I. I foresee you will become a great Jedi knight."

But Qui-Gon had something else on his mind that he needed Obi-Wan to know. He told him this was the most important favor he may ever do for Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan wasn't sure what to expect, but he was shocked when Qui-Gon told him that in the event he somehow didn't make it out of this mission, he wanted Obi-Wan to take care of Anakin, but that it was also critical that he introduce the boy to a particular Jedi in the order as well, but that's another story.

________________________

Jar Jar eventually emerged from the lake. He shook the excess water off and met the humans not too far from the lake. But Jar Jar did not have the news they were hoping for. According to Jar Jar, the city was deserted.

"Some kinda fight, mesa tinks."

That got everyone else worried. Shmi held Anakin's shoulders protectively.

"Do you think they have been taken to the camps?" Obi-Wan asked his master.

Qui-Gon didn't have an answer yet, if even a hypothesis.

"More likely they were wiped out," said the captain.

"Mesa no tink so," said Jar Jar.

"Do you know where they are, Jar Jar?" asked Qui-Gon.

"When in trouble, gungans go to sacred place. Mesa show you. Come on. Mesa show you!"

And so, Jar Jar led the humans to the sacred place to find the gungans.

_______________________

Jar Jar led the humans to a spot somewhere in the forest, where the gungans were gathered at what looked like a clear campsite of sorts. One of the gungan captains led the humans to meet with his leaders.

"Your Honor, Queen Amidala of the Naboo."

Queen Amidala marched up in front with Jar Jar, who was feeling a little awkward again.

"H, h-heyo dadee, Big Boss Nass, Your Honor." Jar Jar waved.

Boss Nass, however, was not quite as welcoming.

"Jar Jar Binks. Who's da uss-en uthers?"

Queen Amidala showed no ill will.

"I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo. I come before you in peace."

"Ah, Naboo biggen. Yousa bringen da Mackineeks. Yousa all bombad."

"We have searched you out because we wish to form an alliance."

But before Queen Amidala could say anything else, Padme stepped forward.

"Your Honor," said Padme.

"Whosa dis?" asked Boss Nass.

"I am Queen Amidala."

"Huh?" Jar Jar gasped, so did Anakin and his mother.

None of those three saw this coming. Anakin couldn't believe this? He'd been tucked under a blanket by a queen? And given her a wooden necklace as a present? He felt so unworthy of being in her presence now, but also confused, shocked; a lot of things.

"This is my decoy, my protection, my loyal bodyguard." Padme explained. "I'm sorry for my deception, but it was necessary to protect myself."

Qui-Gon smirked a bit when he realized Obi-Wan was a bit shocked by this revelation too.

"Although we do not always agree, Your Honor, our two great societies have always lived in peace."

"Ah..." Boss Nass seemed to listen better now.

"The Trade Federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build." Padme continued. "If we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever."

Anakin stood quietly, intrigued by how smart and brave Padme sounded as she gave her speech. He could believe she was a queen; it would be another good explanation for why she was so beautiful (at least, in the eyes of a child).

"I ask you to help us." Padme got down on one knee. "No, I beg you to help us. We are your humble servants.

Soon, everyone was mimicking Padme's actions.

"Our fate rests in your hands."

All was silent for a while as Boss Nass took some time to consider this. Everything Padme said made a lot of sense, and not a lot of Nabuians were brave enough to step right to him to ask for his help. In response, however, Boss Nass laughed, and then he said,

"Yousa no tinken yousa greater den da Gungans? Me-e-esa lika dis! Maybe... wesa... bein friends."

The humans were delighted by this response, and the gungans all cheered. With the gungans' help, this battle for Naboo would surely have a greater chance of ending in favor of Queen Amidala's people.

___________________________

Gunray sat in the queen's throne with Haako and Darth Maul standing at either side of him as he notified Sidious that the royal starship had been located in the swamp.

"It won't be long, my lord."

"This is an unexpected move for her." Sidious said. "It's too aggressive. Lord Maul, be mindful. Let them make the first move."

"Yes, my master." Maul said.

__________________________

The gungans and the humans prepared for battle. One of the scouts stood atop a large statue to look out for something, and he shouted down to Anakin that someone was coming.
"All right!" Anakin responded, and he ran to notify the grownups.

"Good. They made it," said Padme.

Several speeders came along just outside the wall of trees.

Boss Nass held an arm wrapped around Jar Jar, praising him for bringing the Gungans and Naboo together.

"So, wesa make you... bombad general."

"General?" Jar Jar gasped.

And then the poor gungan fainted.

Meanwhile, the captain notified Padme that almost everyone back home was in camps.

"A few hundred police and guards have formed an underground resistance movement. I brought back as many of the leaders as I could. The Federation army's also much larger than we thought, and much stronger." The captain looked at Padme more seriously than ever. "Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think that we can win."

Padme didn't appear worried, however.

"The battle is a diversion." she explained. "The Gungans must draw the droid army away from the cities. R2..."

R2 pulled up a projection for Padme to use as her visual aid. According to Padme, there were secret passages on the waterfall side they could enter through.

"Once we get to the main entrance, Captain Panaka will create a diversion. Then we can enter the palace and capture the viceroy. Without the viceroy they will be lost and confused."

Padme looked at Qui-Gon and asked for his input.

"The viceroy will be well-guarded." Qui-Gon said.

"The difficulty is getting into the throne room." Captain Panaka said. "Once we're inside, we shouldn't have a problem."

Qui-Gon, however, wasn't so sure about that theory.

"There is a possibility," said Qui-Gon. "With this diversion, many gungans will be killed."

"Wesa ready to do our-san part." Boss Nass declared, pumping a fist over his heart.

"We have a plan which should immobilize the droid army." Padme said. "We will send what pilots we have to knock out the droid control ship orbiting the planet."

Qui-Gon had to admit, that sounded like a well-conceived plan, but with great risk, and not just the fact that Shmi still couldn't stomach the fact that her son would be near this battle.

"The weapons on your fighters may not penetrate the shields."

"And there is an even bigger danger," said Obi-Wan. "If the viceroy escapes, Your Highness, he will return with another droid army."

"Well, that is why we must not fail to get the viceroy." Padme said, determination clear in her voice. "Everything depends on it."

R2 beeped and whistled.

____________________________

"She is more foolish than I thought," said Sidious.

"We are sending all troops to meet this army assembling near the swamp." Gunray reassured. "It appears to be made up of primitives."

"This will work to our advantage," said Sidious.

"I have your approval to proceed, then, my lord?"

Sidious sneered and said, "Wipe them out. All of them."

_______________________

The gungan soldiers rode their steeds through the fog as they left the swamp.

On the captain's command, a shield was started up. This was the biggest battle they may ever face, but all the gungans were ready to fight.

Over a tall grassy hill came several tanks led by the droid army. They immediately opened fire, but their blasts failed to penetrate the Gungans' shields.

It appeared the plan was working so far.

____________________

While the gungans were distracting the droid army, the humans got to work on their part of the plan.

Padme snuck with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Shmi, and Anakin behind a wall. Padme flashed a small light to signal Captain Panaka, who signalled back that everyone was ready when she was.

Qui-Gon knelt down to Anakin and held his shoulders. He had some special instructions for him.

"Once we get inside, you find a safe place to hide and stay there."

"Sure." Anakin said.

"Stay there." Qui-Gon shook a finger at Anakin.

"Listen to the Jedi, Ani." Shmi said sternly.

__________________________

Captain Panaka's soldiers waited for the perfect moment... and on the count of three, fired!

A droid ship was hit with a big explosion that immediately prompted the droids to start blasting.

Anakin and Shmi stood close by Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon as they ignited their lightsabers to deflect the blaster fire.

The other guards and handmaidens fired their own blasters to distract the droids, thus granting Padme and the Jedi time to get inside. And they just barely made it in without getting blasted.

____________________________

Gunray saw a live video of what was happening outside, and was shocked by everything.

"I thought the battle was going to take place far from here." said the viceroy. "This is too close."

____________________________

Inside the hangar were more battle droids, and the humans entered, the room quickly being a storm of blaster fire!

"Ani! Shmi! Find shelter!" Qui-Gon shouted.

Quickly, Shmi took her baby and moved as quickly as she could to get him out of there.

"Quick! Get to your ships!" Padme instructed the pilots quickly.

In the midst of all the crazy running around, Anakin got separated from his mother!

"Mom? Mom?!" Anakin called, but got no response.

Anakin searched desperately for his mother, but had to dodge a lot of shots if wanted any hope of getting out alive. Quickly, Anakin did as his mother and Qui-Gon had said and looked for a place to hide. He quickly climbed up the stairs of one of the starfighters. One, in fact, in which R2-D2 took refuge.

For now, Anakin was safe, but he couldn't see his mother anywhere.

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Padme still fought alongside the others with their blasters or lightsabers.

There were several pilots fighting in space too, shooting blaster fire at the droid control ship orbiting Naboo.

__________________________

Meanwhile, the gungan army continued to distract the droids. The droids fired and fired at the shield, not even making a crack in them, which led the gungans to do pretty much nothing. But after a while, the droids ceased fire.

"Steady. Steady." Jar Jar instructed.

Jar Jar was clumsy, but he wasn't stupid. He, for sure, was smart enough to know that cease of fire was not always necessarily a good thing, especially in a war.

The droids opened up one of their tanks, and out came what looked like a vending machine of droids. Only, this vending machine didn't require payment to activate.

Immediately, the gungans prepared to fight, gathering shields, loading catapults, and preparing their steeds.

Gunray ordered the droids activated. The Gungan army was really in for it now. Ouch time, the captain called it. There had to be at least three thousand droids out there! And that was just the first wave from the tanks.

The droids made their way through the shields by simply walking, and upon entry into the giant bubbles, the gungans began firing their weapons and taking down as many droids as they could. The big blue balls deactivated droids upon impact, and the shields held by the front bought at least a little time and protection.

____________________________

In the hangar, the droid problem appeared dealt with, at least for now.

"My guess is the viceroy's in the throne room." Padme said.

Captain Panaka called two groups, Red and Blue, instructing them to follow him.

And from the ship in which he sat, Anakin wanted to join in too.

"Hey, wait for me!" said the boy.

"Stay where you are." Qui-Gon said. "You'll be safe there."

"But I-"

"Stay in that cockpit." Qui-Gon said sternly.

Anakin just sat and pouted. And then something happened that Anakin didn't expect.

Blue sparkles suddenly filled the air, and Anakin then heard a whinny and a small metallic thumping sound.

Anakin looked up at the ship's front and saw... a pegasus?

Anakin didn't really know what she was, aside from the fact that she was a horse. Her coat was a lovely sapphire blue and she had a long mane of cerulean blue with bright blue eyes to match. Her wings sparkled like sapphires, and she had a little sapphire gem in her forehead.

Anakin wasn't sure what to make of the horse, so he ducked down into the cockpit, hoping the horse wouldn't attack him as long as he didn't provoke her. And then he heard a voice.

"Are you okay?" the voice said.

Anakin looked up to see the horse looking into the cockpit. The beautiful pegasus sniffed his hair.

"N-nice horsie." Anakin said nervously.

"Don't be scared. I won't hurt you." said the horse.

That made Anakin speechless. For a moment, anyway.

"You can talk?!"

"Yes, I can." The pony then froze as her ears shot up. "But not for long. I'm sensing danger."

By the horse's voice, she seemed very young; about Padme's age.

"Yeah. I wanna help the grownups, but Master Qui-Gon says I have to stay here."

Anakin pointed out the others to Sapphire. Fortunately, to Anakin's relief, he saw his mom with the other grownups, safe and alive. Except, Sapphire saw something else that appeared to alarm everyone.

Just as the human army was about to leave the hangar, the doors opened to reveal Darth Maul, and he looked ready to kill.

"We'll handle this," said Qui-Gon.

"We'll take the long way." Padme said.

Quickly, Padme and the others quickly fled as the Jedi and Sith removed their robes, except for Shmi, who was Force pulled in by Maul.

"Mom!" Anakin exclaimed.

"Stay down!" Sapphire quickly pushed Anakin down with her hoof so Maul wouldn't see him. "I'll go help your mother."

And Sapphire spread her wings and flew out to help.

However, Anakin could see that his mother wasn't the only one in danger.

Droidekas rolled out and began firing at Padme and her team. They were losing within mere seconds!

"We gotta do something, R2!" Anakin said.

R2 beeped in agreement.

___________________________

Darth Maul held Shmi in one arm as a hostage, and activated a red dual-bladed lightsaber in the other hand.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both activated their lightsabers and began to fight.

Maul tried to strike Obi-Wan down, but Obi-Wan flipped over him.

"Be careful of Shmi!" Qui-Gon emphasized.

"I know!" Obi-Wan replied.

Despite two Jedi fighting him and one of his arms occupied, Maul was proving to be a very skilled Sith; he knew the Jedi's compassion for protecting civilians would be their weakness in this battle.

_______________________

Meanwhile, Padme and the others were still fighting the droidekas.

R2 beeped to Anakin that they needed to help them, and the best way to do that was to use the starfighter's blasters to fight back. Qui-Gon said to stay in the cockpit; he didn't say not to touch any buttons.

R2 beeped frantically for Anakin to hurry up and fire already!

"I'm trying to! I don't know where the trigger is!" Anakin said.

Anakin pressed a button, and that made the ship move forward.

"Oops, wrong one. Maybe it's this one."

Anakin flipped a switch, which closed the windshield.

"Nope. Wait. Here it is."

Anakin found what looked like a little controller, and he began shooting blaster fire, taking down the droids easily, giving Padme and the others time to run. At first, Anakin felt as happy as a kid beating the high score on one of those pilot simulation arcade games. Unfortunately, this game didn't have a pause or reset button.

"Uh-oh! It's on automatic pilot." Anakin panicked.

While the others were running, Anakin was going for a little ride. Fortunately for Anakin, there was a helmet, which he placed on his head. Safety first.

"Try to override it," said Anakin to R2.

_______________________________

Qui-Gon was knocked down as he and Obi-Wan continued to fight Maul. Obi-Wan decided to try and fight Maul himself, but Maul did not make it easy, especially when he held his lightsaber to Shmi's throat and backed away into the next room.

Quickly, the two Jedi followed the Sith, but he was more powerful than he looked. Maul managed to throw Obi-Wan off and to the ground, leaving Qui-Gon to go and rescue Shmi himself.

Obi-Wan got up again, and he and Qui-Gon thought they had the Sith Lord cornered... until he backflipped to a runway, Shmi's fear growing by the minute.

Qui-Gon saw the fear in Shmi's eyes; he was determined to rescue her.

I won't lose you again, my love. Qui-Gon thought.