Title: Star Wars: Episode II - v.2
Universe: Star Wars
Rating: PG
Summary: An alternate vision of the second episode of the Star Wars saga.
Last Revision: 11^th January 2006

“Greetings Master Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker,” the Queen said to each of them in turn. “I thank you for travelling so far to join us here today. We are greatly honoured by your presence, and are thankful that you have come to our planet as guests and not as peace ambassadors as before.”

Obi-Wan made another little nod. “The honour is all ours, your majesty,” he said. “It is a pleasure for us to be able to return to your world and see that it has prospered so well since the unfortunate events of yesteryear.”

“Indeed. And Naboo is forever in your debt, Mater Jedi.”

Anakin could do nothing but stare at the Queen whilst his mind raced with possible reasons for Padmé’s absence. She was clearly no longer Queen. Had something happened to her? He was desperate to find answers, and yet he knew he could not breach the conversation with a blunt, ‘Where is Queen Amidala?’

Obi-Wan and the Queen, who soon introduced herself as Queen Jamilla, made polite and empty conversation for a while before she turned her eyes on Anakin and said, “And Anakin Skywalker, how long it has been. We are often kept informed of your progress by our illustrious Supreme Chancellor and our Senator. How are you finding life on Coruscant.”

Anakin found his tongue and replied, “Very well, your majesty.”

She gave him a kind smile. “Very good. We are most grateful to see you back here. We owe you so much.”

Anakin smiled again, a little jadedly. “You owe me nothing, your highness. The honour was all mine.”

And so their audience was adjourned for after the ceremony and they were escorted into the hall to await the arrival of the rest of the guests.

Anakin was burning with questions over the whereabouts of Padmé Amidala, but he had no time to seek out the answers. Before he knew it, the palace’s great hall was filled to bursting with people and the ten year anniversary service for the Battle of Naboo had begun. It started with a long and somewhat tedious speech from the Queen, but Anakin absorbed very little of it. As was his nature, he was already preoccupied with other matters.

There was a man sat at the other end of their row that he did not recognise, and he could do nothing but stare at him. Though there were many people in the hall that he could quite happily called strangers, there was something about this man which set him apart from everyone else, but Anakin had no idea what this was.

At length, Anakin gave Obi-Wan a nudge in the ribs, whilst a young girl (born on the very day of the Battle of Naboo) now stood up at the front of the assembly and read out a poem on the price of war.

“Master,” he whispered, “Do you know who that is?”

Obi-Wan looked irritated by Anakin’s interruption during what was, for him, a solemn ceremony, but when he too set his eyes on the stranger, his face paled and he gaped in sheer surprise. “By the Force,” he gasped, “It’s Master Dooku.”

“Master who?”

Obi-Wan motioned a finger at Anakin, asking him to lower his voice. “Master Dooku,” he then elaborated, “He hasn’t been seen for years.”

“Who is he?”

“Why, he was a Jedi, Anakin.”

“Was?”

“Yes. ‘Count’, I believe, is his correct title now. He is only the twentieth Jedi to have ever renounced the Order.”

“Renounced? You mean he left?”

“Quite. Not long after you were taken in, in fact.”

“Wait a minute, I think I have heard his name before. Didn‘t he have conflicts with the Council?”

“Yes. It is because of him, I believe, that Master Jinn was so ‘rash’ on occasion.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Why, he was Qui-Gon’s mentor, of course.”

Anakin nodded dourly. “I see.”

There was a round of applause as the child at the front finished reciting her poem, and more recitals and musical pieces followed, until, at last, everyone then began to filter outside; the N1 Starfighter squadron, being led for the first time since the battle by veteran pilot Ric Olié, were to perform a short display.

“Don’t lose sight of him, Anakin,” Obi-Wan insisted as they joined the mass movement toward the plaza and tried to keep Dooku in sight. “No one’s seen or heard anything of him for the past decade. I can’t believe we’ve just stumbled across him like that. It’d be nice to know what he’s been doing with himself in his ‘retirement’.”

Anakin felt that there might be more to all this then Obi-Wan was letting on. “What made him leave?” he asked as he peered over the multitude of bobbing heads, attempting to keep this ‘Dooku’ in view.

“He was disillusioned by the way things were going,” Obi-Wan replied, “by the Order and by what he called the ‘decay of the senate’. He was always an idealist. When absolutely nothing seemed to be going his way, he just packed up his bags and left.”

“Just like that?” Anakin continued.

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes. And he seemed to simply fade from existence thereafter. It has made many of us feel a bit uneasy, to be quite frank. People do not disappear like that, not for no reason.”

Ah, so here was the mystery, Anakin thought. The Jedi were afraid. One of their own had taken flight from the nest and his lengthy disappearance unnerved them.

Soon, both he and his master were outside the palace walls and were soon descending the great stone stairway toward the plaza. When they reached the bottom step, they froze, though, and stared about themselves aimlessly. They realised that they had lost him.

“Blast,” Kenobi murmured, placing his hands on his hips and seeing no one but strangers in the bustling crowd around them. That was until Anakin suddenly shouted, leaping into the air, “Quick, Master! The funeral domes, he’s heading their way!”

Obi-Wan nodded as if it that should have been obvious. “But of course,” he murmured, before he rushed off in pursuit of Anakin, who was already weaving his way through the masses as quickly as he could.

Anakin was out of the crowd a lot faster than Obi-Wan, but his mentor soon caught up, and the pair then pursued Dooku together. From what Anakin could see, Dooku was a very tall man of proud carriage. He walked with confidence and a certain grace, and was well-dressed in a kind of pseudo-militaristic garb, wearing a black tunic and trousers, knee-high boots and a brown cape. His hair was short and grey, and slicked back smartly over his head, whilst his stern countenance was the kind that might have well been chiselled out of stone. He was clearly quite old, and yet had aged very well, and was clearly in the best of health.

“Let me do the talking,” Obi-Wan said as he and his apprentice drew closer. It caught them both off-guard when the man suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned on them, though, his hand shooting to his hip as though he were ready, even at his esteemed age, to take on any troublemakers with his trusty, old lightsabre.

He took both of the men in with a couple of quick glances before he said, in a deep and naturally authoritative voice, “Can I help you, gentlemen?”

Obi-Wan attempted a smile and gave the man a Jedi bow. “It’s been a long time, Master Dooku.”

There was a brief flare in the elder man’s eyes as he was addressed so by Obi-Wan, but it faded far too quickly for notice - though not quick enough by far to escape Anakin’s acute observation. The Padawan smirked wryly and found himself being drawn into the convoluted mystery that was Count Dooku, a man he could feel would have a significant effect on his life.

Dooku meanwhile had studied carefully the visage and manner of the Jedi before him, and beneath the rather lengthy mullet and reddish beard, he saw a face that he knew. “Obi-Wan Kenobi?” he asked.

Obi-Wan nodded and smiled again. “Yes. It‘s good to see you again, old friend.”

“Indeed,” Dooku replied, taking Obi-Wan’s hand and giving it a shake.

There was history here, Anakin could feel it. Dooku saw a boy that his own apprentice, Qui-Gon, had trained, and Obi-Wan saw a man he had admired and who was irremovably part of his Jedi family, a grandmaster as close to him as a grandfather would be in a blood family.

The moment soon passed and the two parted for Dooku then to set his eyes on Anakin, the next link in the Jedi chain that led down from him, through Qui-Gon and through Obi-Wan.

“Ah. Anakin Skywalker,” he eventually said, giving the Padawan a somewhat gruff nod, “Haven’t you grown?”

Anakin allowed himself another smirk. “So I keep being told.”

It was Dooku’s turn to smile darkly now. “Yes. I can only imagine how proud your mother would be now if she could see you.”

Anakin felt his guard go up all of a sudden, and the look that passed between him and the Count was something he could not quite explain - as if they were both playing with one-another’s secrets, as if they both knew something dark and elusive about the other, and yet didn’t really understand what this was. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt uncomfortable and somewhat offended. And he felt sure that this, for some reason, had been the Count’s intent. It was all very strange.

Whether or not Obi-Wan was oblivious to this awkward meeting, Anakin would never know, but his master soon distracted the Count and asked, “We thought we had lost you forever. What have you been up to these last few years?”

Dooku turned back to Kenobi and seems to be as cold and aloof now to him as he was to Anakin. “I left your Order, Obi-Wan. Can the Jedi not leave it at that? The rest of my business is my own.”

Obi-Wan felt a little putout by this riposte, but he makes nothing of it. “But of course,” he says.

“I am here to remember Qui-Gon. Nothing more.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes. I cannot believe it has been ten years since his death now. I miss him.”

“As do we all,” Dooku nodded. “His loss was an unnecessary one.”

There was no glance or even a hint in his direction, but Anakin felt as though Dooku’s last comment was a gibe at him. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and made a loud sigh, turning his eyes toward the sky as the N1 squadron now made their first pass to exhilarating cheers from the crowds.

“And what happens when the ceremony’s over?” Obi-Wan then asked the Count. “Are you going to disappear for another ten years?”

Dooku gave Obi-Wan a smile that Anakin could only call unnerving. “You shall see,” was all the man said before he excused himself with a bow of his own and walked steadily away.

Anakin stood by his mentor as they both watched him go.

“I don’t like him, master,” Anakin said.

Obi-Wan was not so eager to make judgement. “Time changes people, Anakin,” he said. “Life can make one bitter.”

“I still don’t like him.”

Obi-Wan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “You still have much to learn, I fear, my apprentice.”

“You always say that.”

The N1 fighters flew over another time, but this time they were followed by the sound of gunshot and then the entire plaza erupted in screams. Anakin and Obi-Wan were turned on their heels and were rushing in pursuit of the sound no sooner had it elapsed, but it was too late. Someone was dead…