Before - Legends The Chosen Choice

I wrote this many years ago, shortly after AOTC was released. Will post scene by scene.

Main Characters:
Dav-Ako Conkoomi: Jedi Master, head of the order. Human male.
Quap-Lo Magorous: Jedi Master. Ugnaught male.
Yoda: Padawan of Quap-Lo Magorous, unknown species.
King Digirus: Ruler of Thrapis, a Non-Republic system.



********************
The Jedi meditated silently, clearing all obstacles before him. He opened his mind and body to the Force, letting it fully infiltrate every cell of his being. For a brief moment, the dark walls were slightly illuminated with a yellow hue. He felt peace with a mind empty of any distracting thoughts or feelings. Sometimes, for the briefest fraction of an instant, for a time too short for the most precise clock to measure, he felt as if he himself was the Force, connected to every molecule in the galaxy. However, the midichlorians residing in him would metaphorically scream at a volume piercing his mind and breaking his hold. He wouldn’t have a chance to dive that deep today, as the door to his compartment slid open.

“Master Conkoomi, we will be reaching Tayloria momentarily,” reported the young Republic officer, Dap Layfil. He waited for a moment, anticipating a confirmative reply. When none came, he continued, “The Captain ... advises to prepare for ... uh, deboarding.”

The Jedi said not a word and made not a gesture. “Master Jedi, is everything okay?” the confused man questioned the human figure who acted like anything but.

“Fine is everything,” Conkoomi replied. “To alert me when we land, the Captain inform.”

It took Layfil a second or two to understand the Jedi’s statement, but he had a crash-course lesson in decrypting Dav-Ako Conkoomi’s backward dialect before the mission. “Yes, Sir.” Layfil turned and exited, then pivoted back around to press a button that sent the door sliding shut once again. As the image of the Jedi disappeared behind the door, Dap pondered how young the Jedi Master looked for a human his age. For though his bio put his age at over sixty years, he didn’t look a day out of his twenties.

Conkoomi returned to his meditation. Letting the Force refill his mind. He knew this political crisis would not have an apparent peaceful solution. The Taylorian Federation, the government of the planet Tayloria and the species known as the Tay, were under siege from a neighboring non-Republic system. Relatively recent additions to the Republic, the Tay apparently were in material breach of a long forgotten treaty with the Thrapis, a warring and resource hungry species. The agreement granted half of the Taylorian planet to the Thrapis if the Tay were to join any interstellar organization.

A search through the Jedi archives revealed this would not be the Republic’s first trouble with the Thrapis. Thousands of years earlier, Republic scout ships entered orbit around Thrap, the Thrapis home world, at which time the species had just begun primeval space exploration. The scout ships were trespassers in the Thrapis’ view, and were destroyed by a barrage of fission weapons, against which the ships had no defense.

The Jedi realized when he first researched the situation that his mission was not simply to protect Tayloria. If he could not convince the Thrapis to nullify the ancient treaty, his hands were tied, and the Thrapis would have a legitimate right to half of the planet. For this reason he, head of the Jedi High Council, had decided to take on this task himself.

Sensing they had landed, Dav-Ako stood and looked toward a control panel on the wall. Lights quickly rose and the door slid open, much to Officer Layfil’s surprise as he approached it from the other side.

“Landed we have, Officer Layfil?” said the Jedi as he crossed his arms and approached the doorway..


“Yes, Sir. I was just coming to alert you to that.” Layfil stood outside the room, and as the Jedi approached him he noticed other movement inside.

“Thank you. On this trip much help have you been.” Conkoomi replied as he now positioned himself in the doorway, as if attempting to hide something.

“I am happy to do my duty to the Republic and the Jedi Order,” Layfil said, curiously peering to the side of the Jedi to see clothes and supplies amazingly putting themselves in the luggage containers. Though he had served on other diplomatic missions with Jedi passengers, he had yet to witness the use of the Force to move objects.

“Very good,” Conkoomi said as the stepped out of the room. As he did, the officer couldn’t resist looking in. The Jedi smiled when he noticed Layfil’s interest, and everything moving in the room came to an abrupt halt. A confused look came to his face, but as he noticed the Jedi Master grinning at him, it quickly changed to embarrassment. “Problem is there, Officer Layfil?”

“No. No, Sir,” the now nervous young man quickly replied. “No problem is there...uh... I mean no problem there . . . Wait, is problem there...”


“’There’s no problem’ mean you?”

“Yes, Sir. There’s no problem mean I,” Layfil said, realizing he hadn’t phrased it normally, but not attempting to correct himself.

Conkoomi almost chuckled as he began to leave. “To my quarters in the Capital, see that delivered my necessities are.”

“Yes, sir,” said Layfil, as he began to concentrate. “I will see...that your necessities are delivered...to your quarters in the Capital.” He watched the Jedi go through the door at the end of the short hallway, and looked back in the room to see two packed luggage containers snap shut.

“Amazing.”

 

“Supreme Chancellor, arrived on Tayloria have I. Been for now a truce established, but the Thrapis could continue the massacre of Tay at any time. The Republic and therefore I currently to stop them no authority have. Found any legal authority to engage them, have the bureaucrats?

“No, Master Conkoomi, but they are still searching.”

“Immediately if any is found, alert me. Contact the Jedi Council and have them put three hundred Jedi on stand-by in case assistance I require. From what we know of the Thrapis, a peaceful resolution there might not be.”

“Be reminded, Master Jedi, the Thrapis are not to be underestimated. They have control of several systems, and have friends.”

“Yes, Chancellor. A violent engagement at all costs be avoided will.”

“I have faith in you, my friend. May the Force be with you.”

********************

The short-statured but long-armed Taylorian Federation President greeted Conkoomi as he entered the deliberation room. “Ambassador Conkoomi, we are honored to have you on our planet. We hope you had an enjoyable trip from Courascant.” The voice was nasally and each word was distically pronounced.

“Of course. To offer any assistance, I am pleased. However, understand you must that besides deliberation, little is there that I can do.”

“Yes, unfortunately that is so,” the President said with what could have only been a Tay form of a sigh as his large, wide-set eyes lowered. It pained him that he could do nothing more for his people. Millions had died already, and if nothing came of these deliberations, billions more might join them. Of the Tay in the Thrapis-claimed half of the planet, very few were willing to leave their homes.

“For a solution your Senator and many others are searching. A chance they might find a way around the treaty in dispute, there is,” Conkoomi said, knowing that the chance was almost non-existent. “However, the course of action safest is to evacuate the Thrapis claimed side of the planet.”

“Of course, this was my first order. It is not my intention to ignore the Thrapis treaty. They protected us and even diverted an asteroid impact that would have destroyed us. However, almost all are unwilling to abandon their homes, even when faced with death. In our culture there is no place more important than one’s home.”

Although he showed no sign of it to the Tay before him, this always puzzled Dav-Ako. He couldn’t comprehend why someone, when faced with certain doom, would still cling to this thing called home. He thought perhaps it was because he couldn’t remember ever having a home, or at least a physical home, besides the Jedi Temple.

A Tay waddled up to the President and somehow non-verbally communicated with him. The President turned to Conkoomi. “The Thrapis delegate is about to enter, Ambassador,” he said. “Please be seated. It is rude to be standing when a Thrapis enters.”

The Jedi said not a word and sat down.

“Translator, are you ready?”

“Yes, sir,” another Tay in the room responded as he stepped forward. The biological voice surprised Dav-Ako, as he was accustomed to droid translators.

The Jedi could feel the tenseness in the room. The President’s breathing had changed slightly. He leaned close to Dav-Ako and said, “Master Jedi, you are allowed to protect us if he becomes . . . violent?”

“I assure you, harm to come to anyone in this room, I will not allow.” As Conkoomi finished his sentence, the entrance door slid open. The Thrapis delegate looked cautiously around the room before entering, his small eyes jotting around quickly. Once he was satisfied, he quickly made his way to the table and sat.

After a few long seconds of silence, the Thrapis spoke. Dav-Ako made out one word of the sentence, as did everyone else in the room. The translator nervously thought for a second. “He asks if the human is a Jedi,” the Tay said.

“Tell him yes,” Dav-Ako replied.

“Locho,” the translator repeated to the Thrapis.

The delegate then spoke a lengthy statement, and Dav-Ako could see the translator was having a bit of trouble with it. After having him slow down and repeat the phrase, the Thrapis quickly rose and left the room. A heavy silence lingered in the air.

“He says the Jedi is to meet King Digirus alone at Mount Quiso on Thrap. A Thrapis ship will dock in Capitol Bay 95 in two hours to take him there.”

************************

“Master Conkoomi, how went the first meeting with the Thrapis delegation?”

“A delegate, they did not send. Only a messenger.”

“What? With what sort of message?”

“With the Thrapis King I am to meet. Boarding a ship to take me there in about an hour I will be.”

“Very well. I will update the Council on your status. We have found no provision in Republic statutes that would relieve the Taylorian Federation of its treaty with the Thrapis. You are their only hope.”

“Chancellor, to send the nearest Jedi to the Thrapis border, the Council instruct.”

“I will alert them at once. But why?”


“Not yet sure. Have to move mountains, I sense I will.”

 

*********

“Yoda,” Jedi Master Quap-Lo Magorous alerted his padawan, “make ready for our departure.”

“What happened? We are under orders to remain here for three more days,” the curious young one questioned as he complied with his master’s command.

“We have been summoned by the Council to assist Master Conkoomi on the Tay-Thrapis conflict,” the ugnaught master answered. “We are only a few parsecs away.”

“Assist Master Conkoomi?!” Yoda exclaimed, stopping what he was doing and looking up to his three foot tall master. “What could he possibly need our help with?”

“I don’t know. We are to hold just outside Thrapis territory and await further instruction.”

“But what about the..”

“There is no ‘but’, my young apprentice. We must leave within the hour.”

**********

Dav-Ako could sense the ship about to touch down on the planet. It had been a good two hour travel from Tayloria; obviously the pilots weren’t in much of a hurry. A docking ramp, shrieking and jerking, opened and lowered to the rust-colored ground of Thrap. The Jedi, not at all in a hurry himself, slowly made his way down the ramp, and set foot on the planet. The moment he had both feet on ground, the transport lifted, leaving him standing before a shrine of red crystal.

Five columns supported a ceiling thirty feet high, under which a throne basked in a crimson glow. “Welcome to the Throne of Mount Quiso, Jedi King,” the seated figure stated. “I am King Digirus.”

“I am a leader of Jedi, but not their King.” He went down on a knee. “To be before you, Digirus, I am honored. Dav-Ako Conkoomi, Ambassador for the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.” Dav-Ako’s wits were about him. The Force, he found, flowed strongly here.

“Get up, you fool,” Digirus commanded, seeming insulted by the action. “I have only called you here because I wish to personally inform a Republic official that they have no authority in this matter, and the Thrapis will take no part in any deliberations regarding the Taylorian Federation.”

The Jedi rose and began to speak, but the King got down off his throne and approached Dav-Ako as he continued, “We will take our half of Tayloria, and punish any trespassers, and there is nothing the Republic can do about it.” The King and the Jedi now stood only feet apart. Conkoomi could feel the anger, or more the frustration, in the King’s mind. He knew not what to say. He closed his eyes and let the strong Force presence fill him.

“So no hope there is of nullifying the treaty?”

The King smiled a Thrapis form of a smile as he walked past Conkoomi, looking on the great Mount Quiso. “The day this great mountain is reduced to a pile of dust, is the day the Taylorian treaty is nullified.”

Dav-Ako saw an unusual opportunity. The Force had led him to ask the right question. He turned, standing behind the Thrapis beholding his great mountain. “King Digirus, with the Galactic Republic entered a legal binding contract you just have.”

The King turned, almost chuckling. “What?”

“At the time turned into dust Mount Quiso is, your treaty with the Taylorian Federation will null and void be.”

“You have got to be insane if you think I’m going to let you bring a battle cruiser to my planet and destroy my mountain,” the King said, still amused by the Jedi’s remarks.

“No battle cruiser. No weapons. Next to the Force, insignificant are they. Just me, and at most two other Jedi.” Dav-Ako wished with every ounce of his being for the King to go along with it, but stayed sure of not utilizing his Jedi mind powers. To his delight, the King laughed as he approached the Jedi.


“Oh yes. I have heard of this ‘Force’ you Jedi have such faith in. I guarantee you there’s no mystical energy field on my planet,” Digirus grunted. “Ha. Three beings attempting to reduce a mountain to dust? This might be entertaining. Call your fellow Jedi here. I wish to witness this before the day is out.”

 

“My King, there is a Republic ship carrying two Jedi that request permission to enter our territory and proceed to Mount Quiso,” a voice said in Thrapis language over the King’s communication device, a few minutes after Dav-Ako contacted Master Quap-Lo and his padawan and instructed them to proceed to Thrap. “Do you wish to have the ship destroyed?”

“No, allow them to enter and escort the ship here,” Digirus replied in his native tongue.

“My King, are you certain?”

“NEVER question my orders! Now do as I command. They have a little demonstration to do, then afterwards I will have them disposed of.”

“Yes, sir. My apologies.”

Digirus turned to the Jedi, and spoke in basic, “Your friends will be here soon.”

**************
“Permission granted to proceed to Mount Quiso on Thrap,” the translator built in to the Republic transport’s communication system said. “Follow the escort ship. Any deviance will result in your destruction.”

“They seem like a polite species,” Yoda sarcastically commented to his master as they both stood behind the captain and navigator stations.

“Captain,” Quap-Lo spoke up. “Proceed as directed, and for heaven’s sake, do not deviate from the escort ship.”

“Yes, sir,” the captain replied to the ugnaught.

“My master,” Yoda said as the two returned to their passenger seats, “do you have any idea what Master Conkoomi could need our help with in this situation?”

“Not the slightest, my padawan,” answered Quap-Lo, “but I do feel this Mount Quiso to be strong with the Force. I sense it is involved.” He closed his eyes and concentrated. Yoda noticed and, as a model apprentice, did the same. However, something more was on his mind.

“Master,” he said reluctantly.

“Yes, Yoda?” Quap-Lo opened his eyes and slightly turned his head. He could sense this question regarded the great Jedi Council leader.

“I’ve always wondered, why does Master Conkoomi speak in the manner he does?” Yoda felt like a child asking a parent where babies come from, or as if it was something all Jedi knew but had never been revealed to him.

Quap-Lo slightly smiled. “Hard to understand he sometimes is?”

A bit embarrassed, Yoda nodded. His master continued, “It has only happened to several Jedi Masters in the history of the Order. They say when you become as close to the Force as Dav-Ako has, it begins to change the way you think, the way your brain works. In some instances, speech is affected.”

“I see, Master.”

“Be careful, my young friend,” Quap-Lo added. “It just might happen to you someday.” The Master chuckled lowly.

“Master, please. I might have a high midichlorian count, but it takes more than that to become a great Jedi.” Yoda marveled at the idea that he might someday know the Force as well as Dav-Ako Conkoomi, arguably the greatest Jedi since the Sith War. He had heard stories of the Master taking on an entire army to protect the lives of a single small village, resolving hopeless hostage and terrorist threats, negotiating treaties between millennia-old enemies, and other unimaginable feats. Not to mention the condition of his body was that of a human less than half his age.

“That may be so, Yoda,” his master concurred, “But I sense much greatness in your future. I perceive that in your lifetime, vast changes will come about in the galaxy, depending on the choices of you and your fellow Jedi.”

Yoda said nothing in return, but this sent his thoughts soaring. Would he really make decisions that would affect the entire galaxy? And if he were to, would he even be aware he was making them? He closed his eyes and called upon the Force to put his mind at rest.

*******

The transport carrying the two Jedi lowered to Conkoomi’s location just as the large Thrapis sun disappeared behind Quiso. Landing stilts angled down as the loading ramp began to open. As the ramp made contact with the surface just yards away from the King and Master Jedi, two small beings in brown robes and hoods began their way down. When they set foot on solid ground, Conkoomi took a knee.

“Master Quap-Lo,” the knelling Jedi greeted, “For coming to my aid, I thank you.” Conkoomi then looked to Quap-Lo’s shorter companion. “And Yoda, greatly appreciated your presence is.”

“We are happy to be of help, Master,” Quap-Lo answered with a bow.

The King broke out in heavy laughter, greatly amused by the short statured pair. He estimated standing on top of one another, the two might reach his mid-chest. “You are charged with destroying a mountain, and this is the help you call on?!” Digirus said amid his laughing. “I’ve stepped on bugs bigger than this little green fellow!” Yoda’s smooth young face cringed as he felt a strong urge to reach for his lightsaber, but he quickly let go of the darkside emotions. He then comprehended the King’s previous statement. They came to help destroy a mountain?!

Dav-Ako rose and faced the chuckling Thrapis. “Size matters not, King,” he firmly stated. “A virus is smaller than your cells, but even it can kill the largest and strongest of animals.” He continued, “In less than an hour, no part larger your glorious mountain will have than a grain of sand.”

“Oh yes, and I cannot wait to witness it,” King Digirus said sarcastically, adding in one last laugh. “I’ll be watching from my throne, and I hope it doesn’t take too long.” The King made his way back to the red crystal shrine overlooking the peak.

“Master Conkoomi,” Quap-Lo inquired, “what exactly are we here to do?”

The Jedi took a deep breath and let it out before he spoke. “King Digirus has entered in a contract with the Republic. He stated that “the day this great mountain is reduced to a pile of dust, is the day the Taylorian treaty is nullified.’”

Quap-Lo grinned at Conkoomi’s negotiation tactics. “And did you have a plan regarding how to turn a rock-solid mountain into dust, Master?” he questioned, not seeing a clear solution himself. “It is strong with the Force, that much I can sense, but how can we use that to our advantage?”

“Master Quap-Lo,” Yoda unexpectedly said. “We could try to split it in two, then split the two halves in two, and continue splitting until the particles are dust-sized.”

“Think alike your apprentice and I, Master Quap-Lo,” Conkoomi responded. “Padawan Yoda,” he now addressed directly, “like I’m sure your Master must have seen, great things in your future ahead lay. Your species lives long, and I sense...” Dav-Ako stopped mid-sentence. He felt something new, something he hadn’t seen before. His face carried an emotionless stare. He felt loneliness, great loneliness in this young padawan’s future. The cause, he could not see. He only knew that this tiny being would help decide the fate of the galaxy. He came back to and now noticed his pause, and continued his sentence, remembering what he had planned to say, “I sense many changes will come about.”

“Thank you, Master. I look forward to fulfilling my destiny,” the padawan replied.

“Get going!!” the impatient King yelled from his post. “I haven’t got all night!” Digirus was eager to witness the Jedi’s foolish attempt. Three people, barely three people, destroy a mountain as great as Quiso? The most sporadic gambler in the universe wouldn’t take that bet.

“How we will proceed, this is, my small friends,” Dav-Ako said, again kneeling to nearer the master and apprentice’s height. “The Force of Quiso through yourselves channel into me. Go of everything let. The rest to me leave.”

“Yes, Master,” answered Quap-Lo, in full confidence.

“I will try to do my part,” Yoda reluctantly said.

“No!” scolded Dav-Ako. “Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

“Yes, Master,” Yoda replied, with newfound encouragement. Those words he would surely not forget. Still, he wasn’t quite sure what his part was. What had Master Conkoomi said? ‘Channel the Force of Quiso through yourselves and into me.’ What does that even mean? Yoda looked to his master. Quap-Lo had his eyes shut, and suddenly Yoda distinctively felt his master’s reach. He calmed himself (or perhaps it Quap-Lo that had calmed him) and quickly he felt Mount Quiso. It shined with the Force like a bright star, and Yoda could feel its warmth showering his mind. Now he realized what he needed to do. Pull in this warm, this powerful energy, and turn it over to the great Jedi Master next to him. It would not be easy, but Yoda felt his master’s confidence in him.

“At stake, billions of lives are. May the Force be with us,” Dav-Ako said in a calm, solemn tone. He turned to face Quiso. The sun sat directly behind the great mountain, and the sky glowed a beautiful orange hue, slowing morphing up from the horizon to red, then pink, and eventually a fading blue overhead. The other Jedi flanking him marveled at the beauty as well. When Dav-Ako closed his eyes, and looked with the Force, he saw even more beauty. There was no question in his mind as to why the Thrapis held this place in such high esteem. Most planets have certain locations were the Force flows unusually strong. This was Thrap’s.

Dav-Ako reached out his hand toward the mount. He felt its vastness, its millions upon millions of tons of rock and organic material. On that, he knew, he must not concentrate. He felt his companions at this side, and the Force that was beginning to flow through them. He began to feel the weaknesses, the stress lines in the rock, looking for some place to start. Dav-Ako dove into the Force. Everything else in the universe began to disappear in his mind. Only he, Quiso, and the Force now existed. Although he knew that in the Force’s eyes this mountain was no different than a small pebble, he himself was human, and the mind does not easily unlearn what is has already learned. The Force flowing into him from Yoda and Quap-Lo would help him do just that.

The young padawan felt more Force flowing through him than he before knew existed. As he channeled more and more, his outreached hand began to glow, as did his master’s.

King Digirus looked on in confusion. Why weren’t they doing anything? Pointing to a mountain isn’t going to destroy it. No matter, he thought. After this little game these three would not be pointing at any more mountains. He hadn’t had a chance to use the killing techniques he spent so much time learning in quite a while.

Dav-Ako became closer and closer to the Force. The great Mount Quiso began to shrink. He felt it getting smaller, and smaller. His midichlorians shrieked, but he managed to stay focused. The mountain’s image in his mind would soon fit in the palm of his hand.

The on looking Thrapis’s demeanor went from confused to disbelief. Was the tall one actually glowing? With every passing second, it became more apparent, and after a minute or so, Digirus had to shield his eyes from the Jedi Master.

He had done it. Quiso, in his mind, was the size of small rock. Effortlessly, he raised it into the air. An ear-shattering thunderclap rattled the ground and echoed across the land. With minds in full unshakeable concentration, the Jedi didn’t hear it, but Digirus tightly clenched his face and held his sensitive Thrapis ears in pain. The deafening roar continued as the giant floating rock split once, twice, and every piece continued splitting every second that ticked by

 

The reverberations slowly faded, and when the Thrapis King took his hands off his ears an opened his tightly closed eyes, he saw the sun, that had set behind Quiso minutes earlier, through a smoky cloud of dust that was once a mountain. Too stunned to even make a comment, he simply sat and watched the sun set yet again.

When the young padawan opened his eyes, he put down his arm and marveled at what Conkoomi had done. Never again would he believe something was too big for the Force to handle. However, when he looked to his friends, he found them laying lifelessly on the red Thrapis ground. Instinctively, he went to his master, Quap-Lo. He felt for any signs of life. There were none. Why had this happened? Yoda himself felt fine.

“Yoda,” he heard a voice whisper. It was Master Conkoomi. The small green padawan rushed to his side, tears coming to his eyes.

“Yes, Master. What happened? Why am I okay?”

“I must tell you something, Yoda,” Dav-Ako said with his breath. “I saw something a moment ago. The decision you must make.” He paused. Yoda noticed the change in his sentence structure.

“You must save the Chosen One at all costs, Yoda. Without the one that will bring balance, all hope for the galaxy will be lost, and it will be shadow of the Dark Side will never be lifted.”

Yoda couldn’t quite believe Conkoomi’s words. “I must save him?”

“Yes,” Dav-Ako asserted. “You will have to make a choice to save the Chosen One and his master, or stop the enemy’s leader from escaping.”

“The enemy’s leader?”

“I now give you title of Jedi Knight. Only you must know of this, Master Yoda. Save the Chosen One at ALL costs.” Master Dav-Ako Conkoomi closed his eyes as he took his last breath.

**********

The Clone Army had the droids on the run. Legendary Jedi Master Yoda stood over-watching the, in his mind, successful failure.

“Save the Chosen One at all costs.”

Wait. Could that have been? Yes, he had heard something. First Qui-Gon’s voice, and now he had heard the long dead Dav-Ako Conkoomi speak through the Force after death. Did that mean this is the time? Was it now that the prophesied decision would have to be made? Yoda pondered for a brief moment. For the quickest fraction of a second, he saw Anakin Skywalker and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, laying helplessly on a dark floor.

“The droid army is in full retreat,” the cloned soldier reported to his general.

“Well done, commander.” The elderly Jedi Master knew what he had to do. “Bring me a ship.”

************


Yoda and Dooku waged a quick, intense lightsaber duel, of which no words can describe. He would not let his former padawan, who he now realized was the ‘enemy’s leader’ that Master Conkoomi spoke of, escape. He would do both. No choice would there be. Yoda felt his opportunity to strike.

“Fought well you have, my old padawan.”

“This is just the beginning!” Dooku reached out his hand.

What? Yoda hadn’t foreseen this. Stop Dooku he could, but then Skywalker, the Chosen One, would surely perish. “Save the Chosen One at all costs,” Yoda remembered. He had no choice.

With Yoda distracted, Count Dooku rushed into his ship and began powering up for a quick departure. Yoda, weakened from the Force battle and lightsaber duel, struggled to halt the massive hunk of metal from crushing Skywalker and Kenobi. For some reason, it seemed harder than it should. Then he realized it was Dooku, still pushing down on it with the Force even as he readied his ship for take-off. He soon felt it fade, as if the Count lost concentration or just gave up, but gravity never dissipates. Yoda concentrated harder and harder, and soon the object, in his mind, seemed no bigger than his lightsaber. He tossed it effortlessly away from the two injured Jedi as the solar sailing ship buzzed away into the orange Geonosian sky.

Yoda sighed as he reached out his hand for his cane. Had he done the right thing? If he had stopped the Count, could this have been a one battle war? Yoda choose not to argue with himself about it. The Will of the Force works in mysterious ways.