Saga - PT A Season In Hell - TPM AU, OC teamfic, Qui/Obi cameo - Fifty Titles Challenge - Prologue posted 3/31

Title: A Season In Hell
Timeframe: 32 BBY
Genre: AU, teamfic, maybe some angst? I dunno, still figuring it out.
Summary: When Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are unable to help the Naboo, a group of teenage friends from Nar Shaddaa who were trapped on the planet when the blockade began take it upon themselves to make something out of their vacation from hell by helping the Naboo defeat the Trade Federation and liberate their planet.
Notes: For the Fifty Titles Challenge, slipping in just hours before the deadline. Note that I have nothing else written at this time, and am still working on finishing the outline, so expect that it will be sometime in June before I post the first actual chapter. Although the prologue here is from Qui-Gon's perspective, the rest of the fic will be from OCs' POVs.
Disclaimer: The setting, characters, and other aspects from the film belong to Disney and are merely borrowed for amusement purposes. Many thanks to George Lucas for the sandbox that is the Star Wars universe.

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Prologue


Qui-Gon Jinn dropped out of the vent onto the hangar floor, and his Padawan was right behind them. Ignoring the fact that the Trade Federation had just attempted to kill them with poison gas, he two Jedi calmly took cover behind a pile of crates right in front of the vent and surveyed the scene. Battle droids were being loaded on carriers, which were then being loaded onto large transports.

Qui-Gon stated the obvious as he peering around the edge of a crate. “Battle droids.”

Obi-Wan quietly moved to the other side of the gap in the crates. “It’s an invasion army.”

The Jedi Master studied the scene for a moment before continuing. “This is an odd play for the Trade Federation. We’ve got to warn the Naboo and contact Chancellor Valorum. Let’s split up. Stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet.”

“You were right about one thing, Master.” Qui-Gon turned to look at his apprentice, who let a hint of a smile appear on his face. “The negotiations were short.”

Qui-Gon allowed himself a chuckle. Despite the seriousness of the situation, an occasional joke could relieve tension, allowing more natural actions later. It was one reason why he and Obi-Wan Kenobi had worked so well together in their twelve years as master and apprentice. The time would soon come for Obi-Wan to graduate from his apprenticeship and take on the role of a full Jedi Knight, and so the elder Jedi took a moment to simply appreciate what his apprentice had to offer.

“Why separate ships, though, Master?” Obi-Wan’s tone was now more serious. “There’s no guarantee we’ll end up anywhere close to each other. We could end up on complete opposite sides of the planet.”

The Jedi Master considered this. Among the things his apprentice could, and often did, contribute to their teamwork was sound strategy, and here, Obi-Wan was right. “True. I was thinking we’d be less likely to be noticed that way, but we should be fine in one ship.” He pointed at the transport closest to them. “That one. Let’s go.”

Silently, the two Jedi darted across the empty space and slipped onto the transport ship. They found an equipment closet just big enough for the two of them and hid inside. The ride down to the planet was fairly smooth, and the ship soon touched down on the planet as the Jedi started to slip out.

However, the main ramp was not opening. Qui-Gon took a deep breath. “Now I have a bad feeling about this.”

Obi-Wan gave up his search for a control that would open the door. “Do you think they may have run a life-form scanner over the ships?”

“It’s possible. The door will open eventually, but be prepared for a fight. Remember, though, Padawan, that our goal is to simply escape as quickly as possible.”

A moment later, the door did open, and both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan drew their lightsabers off their belts. But it was no use; over a thousand battle droids, including hundreds of droidekas, had their blasters trained on them. Behind him, clanking noises indicated that the droids in the storage racks behind them were activating.

Obi-Wan looked at his Master, who immediately knew that there was no use in fighting. If they activated their lightsabers, they were dead; no two Jedi could hold off that large of an army at once. Instead, he reached for his comlink to notify the Jedi Temple, but received only a buzzing sound, the telltale sign of jammed communications. Several Neimoidians approached and grabbed them to haul them off to somewhere, presumably a prison of some kind. Qui-Gon knew that he and his apprentice would have to bide their time and wait for an opening to escape.

Until then, Naboo was on its own.

 

Interesting premise. I'm really interested to see how your title develops into the story you have in the summary.

 

Nice prologue. Now what will happen to the two?

 

Will be following this one. I have a feeling the assistance from the OCs will turn the tide in later events, directly impacting Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's further adventures.

 

I knew I was going to like this once I got around to reading it!

You handled the transition from the original TPM scene to your AU seamlessly (and, TBH, I always wondered why Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had stowed away on different dropships, although your story may just have found the explanation ) So no Jar Jar, no Otoh Gunga, no Queen Amidala rescue? I'm very curious to see how you're going to handle what comes next, because I imagine that you'll be reconnecting the wagons with the main SW story at some point. And, most importantly, I can't wait to meet your OCs. A group of youngsters on holiday on Naboo during the invasion... that sounds like a good fit for the title!

 

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

I'm equally interested to see how it develops.

Let's just say we won't hear from them for a while.

That's a possibility.

I took the idea from the Darths & Droids webcomic, which touched on this matter way, way back in strip #14 (published in October 2007): http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0014.html

I can definitively say that there will be no Jar Jar, and most likely no Gungans at all. Queen Amidala will make an appearance later in the story, though.