Star Wars: Episode I – Prologue

by E.V. Jacob on June 28, 2012

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
 

Master Yoda made his way down the hall, tired after a long day of teaching the younglings and padawans. The sun was low on the horizon, casting its deep, orange light across the walkway and creating long shadows along the corridor.

As he turned to head toward his chambers, Yoda suddenly stumbled, his head swimming. He gripped his walking stick for support and leaned against the wall, shaking. For a moment, he was too dazed to move. Something was wrong – a surge in the Force, a burst of energy that had sent him reeling, the hall swimming before his eyes.

As it passed, Yoda tried to track it, tried to get a lock on what had caused such a wave of power, but just as quickly as it had come, the torrent subsided, and he was left standing in the hall, gasping for air, wondering what had happened.

The explanation that came to mind seemed ludicrous, but as unlikely as it seemed, there was only one event that could cause such a disruption in the Force.

No longer tired, Yoda turned and hurried back down the hall toward the southeast tower. If his suspicions were true, then he must meet with the other Jedi Masters immediately.

Far from the Jedi Temple, on a planet quite a distance from Coruscant, another great power sat awake in his bed, woken by a disturbance in the Force. He, too, was aware of the possible implications of such a disturbance. However, he had much more sinister intentions for what he’d just sensed.

* * *
The emergency meeting of the Jedi Council was a tense and stressful gathering. The Jedi Masters were accustomed to conferring at odd hours – crises did not keep a schedule, after all – but this time, their purpose was less clear, and this uncertainty left everyone on edge.

Yoda had not been the only one to sense the disturbance, though very few had felt it as acutely as he had. Some of the younger masters had hardly been aware of it, while others, like Yoda, had rushed to the council room, knowing that this was something important, something huge.

At the moment, there was little order to the meeting. Mace Windu had just called it into session, and after initially asking if the others had sensed the disruption, the meeting had broken down into many voices – concerned, frightened, annoyed, bored, suspicious voices, all speaking at once. It was a very unusual scene, quite unlike the council to be acting in such a way, but this was an unusual situation: It was to be expected.

Yoda sat quietly amidst the relative commotion caused by the other eleven, eyes closed, trying to pinpoint the source of the surge. It was no use, though – now that the initial surge had died down, it was unlikely they’d feel anything so clear again.

“Council members!” Mace Windu said, his voice loud to be heard over the din.

The others slowly calmed, sitting down and turning to him, waiting for further direction.

Mace Windu turned toward Yoda. “Master Yoda? Can you shed some light on these…most unusual events?”

Yoda opened his eyes. Everyone was watching him, knowing that he had felt it more clearly than anyone else, hoping he could tell them what this was all about.

He chose his words carefully, knowing that what he was about to say would, if it were true, change everything.

“Given this much thought, I have,” he said slowly. “A theory I have, though impossible it may sound.”

The room was eerily silent now, as the rest of the council waited respectfully for Yoda to finish his explanation.

“A prophecy there is, tells of a Chosen One, it does. A sign of the prophecy, this may be.”

For a moment, no one said anything. Then, all at once, they began to speak again.

Yoda held up his hand and the chatter died off again. With the initial shock wearing off, the council began to discuss the matter in a more organized fashion.

“What makes you believe that this was a sign of the Chosen One, Master Yoda?” Wookiee Tyvokka asked.

“Very pure, the energy was. New and unburdened, it felt. Untrained, it was. Raw…” he answered, distracting himself by thinking on what he’d felt earlier.

“Can you sense it now?” another council member asked.

Yoda shook his head. “Hiding itself the child is, concealing its presence from detection it is.”

“Was the surge from the child’s birth?”

Yoda thought about that. He honestly didn’t know for sure.

“No…not yet born the child is,” he concluded.

“If this is true…if there’s even a chance that this is true…” Wookiee Tyvokka began to say.

“We must begin a search immediately,” Mace Windu concluded.

There was a murmur of agreement through the council room, followed by a heavy silence as the weight of this revelation settled down up on the group.

“We can’t be certain…it might not be the child…” Master Micah Giiett said, almost hopefully.

Mace Windu shook his head gravely. “We have felt the Dark Side growing stronger for some time now – the conditions in the galaxy match what the prophecy has foretold. It seems to me to be the only reasonable explanation. We all felt that change in the Force today. It would be unwise to ignore this sign.”

Yoda nodded.

“Begin the search immediately, we must. Find the child we will.”

“How?”

“We’ll have to search the galaxy – every corner,” Mace Windu said forcefully. “The child might be protecting itself now, but it can’t restrain those powers forever. We will be alert and ready, we will have our masters visit every planet. We will study the prophecies more closely. We will find this child.”

A murmur of agreement ran through the council. With their course of action decided, they began to thoroughly plan out how they would find the Chosen One.

But they were not the only ones making plans.

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***DISCLAIMER: Obviously, these characters aren’t ours, because none of us are named George Lucas, and none of us are crazy-rich off the Star Wars franchise. We have omitted some characters, added some people, and altered a few basic plot points, but the Star Wars stories still don’t belong to us. Everything belongs to George Lucas – we’re doing this purely for the fun of it.***

  • http://marklidstone.com/TheWriter Mark

    A very ambitious project but you are doing a bang up job so far (the next chapter is even better!) Keep it up guys. Can’t wait to see how this all pans out.

    • http://www.ravenhartpress.com Elena Victoria Elizabeth Jacob

      Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far :) I agree – the next chapter is definitely where things pick up :D

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