Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Chapter 2

The holocam in the conference room showed only a thick green cloud. Nute Gunray studied the picture carefully. The Jedi must be dead by now, he thought. He switched to a view of the hallway outside the room, where a crowd of skeletal battle droids waited. "Go in and blast what's left of them," he ordered.
    The droids readied their weapons. Beau, Kirara, who transformed into her true form, Pikachu, and Entei got in a battle stance to get ready for the battle droids. One of them opened the door, and the deadly gas billowed out. Nute tensed, seeing movement in the cloud, but it was only the protocol droid. The Jedi are dead, he thought with satisfaction. He reached to shut off the screen.
     Three humming bars of light, one green and two blue, swept out of the fog. They passed through the nearest battle droids without pausing. The droids collapsed, cut in half. Alarms began to sound.
    Nute leaned forward, trying to make sense of the confused images. "What in blazes is going on down there?"
    "Have you ever encountered a Jedi Knight before, sir?" asked his lieutenant, Rune Haako. "Not exactly," Nute said. "But I don't -------" A screen lit up, showing a string of corridors in red. "They're heading for the bridge! "Seal the doors!" he shouted. "That won't be enough, sir," Rune said almost sadly as the doors slammed shut. "That won't be nearly enough."

Qui-Gon's lightsaber sliced through a pair of battle droids. They collapsed in a shower of sparks. The door to the bridge was just ahead. As he parried a shot from another droid, he felt a surge in the Force. An instant later, a group of battle droids flew against the wall and collapsed in a tangle. Qui-Gon  nodded approval. His apprentice was making good of his skills. Alea couldn't agree more and Kirara, Beau, Pikachu and Entei nodded in agreement.
    He reached the bridge door and began to cut through it, Obi-Wan and Alea to hold off any new battle droids. Almost at once, he felt a rush of fear from the room beyond. Then, with a loud rumble, a series of blast doors slammed, sealing the bridge even tighter.
    Qui-Gon and Alea shook their heads, almost amused. Blast doors could not keep out a Jedi. Shifting their grip on their lightsabers, he stabbed at the door. The laser melted the metal rapidly. It would not be long now.
     Suddenly, he and Alea sensed a change close by. It took only a moment's concentration to find the source. "Destroyer droids!" he said to Obi-Wan and Alea, turning away from the blast doors. "Offhand, I'd say this mission is past the negotiation stage," Obi-Wan replied. "I agree with Obi-Wan, Master Qui-Gon," Alea said. Beau, Kirara, Pikachu, and Entei agreed with me.
I suppose it's better to have a sense of humor that only shows up in the middle of a battle than to have no sense of honor at all, Qui-Gon thought. The two men and Alea, Kirara, Beau, Pikachu, and Entei sprinted down the hall and took cover in a pair of service niches. An instant later, the destroyer droids appeared at the end of the hall. The droids marched past, firing steadily at the smoke-filled area in front of the bridge doors. As soon as they went by, Qui-Gon and Alea nodded at Obi-Wan. The two men and Alea, on Beau's saddle, Kirara, Pikachu, and Entei stepped back into the hall, behind the droids.
    One of the destroyer droids seamed to realize something was wrong. "Switch to bio," it commanded. "There they are!" The droids began firing again, this time in the right direction. Qui-Gon, Alea, and Obi-Wan used their lightsabers and Kirara, Pikachu, Beau, and Entei used their powers to send the shots back at the droids. But just before each shot struck, a bubble of energy appeared around its target, protecting the droids from damage. "They have shield generators!" Obi-Wan said. "I believe we should find a exit!" Alea said to Qui-Gon. "It's a standoff," Qui-Gon replied. "Lets go." He, Alea, Kirara, Beau, Pikachu, Entei, and Obi-Wan had no hope of breaking into the bridge now, not with that kind of reinforcement. They'd have to find another way.

In the marble-walled throne room of the palace of Naboo, the Governing Council had assembled at last. Queen Amidala sat on the throne, watching them. The crisis with the Trade Federation had brought the governers from every city of Naboo here, to show their support for their newly elected Queen.
    Amidala smiled and folded her fingers carefully together in her lap. She didn't want to touch the high collar that rose past her ears. It's straight, she told herself.  It's straight. Eirtae checked it before I came in. The elaborate royal costumes and formal face paint were as much a part of her new position as the decisions she was called upon to make every day.