101 Star Wars Variations 42: A Fore-Gon Conclusion

Qui-Gon Jinn is running through the swamps of Naboo, evading the droid army of the Trade Federation.  He has been sent to this world as a negotiator in the matter of a blockade in orbit that was placed there at the behest of Darth Sidious, the Sith lord who is about to declare all-out war on both his Jedi enemies and the Republic they've long pledged themselves to protect.

He is known for many things.  He is known as a maverick who often clashes with the Jedi Council, possessing unorthodox notions concerning the future of the Jedi Order itself.  Chief among these notions is his belief in the prophecy of the chosen one who will bring balance to the Force.  He holds these notions because he is himself Darth Sidious.

As he runs, Qui-Gon is plotting the future.  His apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi is at his side as always.  Kenobi has a habit of giving trust too freely.  He trusts the Jedi Council as easily as he does Qui-Gon, and is the only Jedi who can make such a claim.  A useful tool.

Requesting the Naboo assignment was certainly no mistake.  The politicians from this world are particularly headstrong; although they often profess strictly altruistic aims they just as often possess considerable egos.  Useful tools all of them, especially Palpatine, who is known for his dabbling in Force lore, believing he knows all there is to know about the Jedi, the Sith.  Motivating them to act, to manipulate them, is a simple matter.

He's already planning to sabotage the transport he knows he can get these politicians to provide him, which will leave them in the middle of untamed space, where his senses tell him a great concentration of Midi-chlorians exists on a planet called Tatooine, centered in a single individual, a boy named Anakin Skywalker.  It's not hard to see that the boy is the chosen one.

A Gungan has appeared and is frantically trying to avoid the same battle droids Qui-Gon has made sure are programmed to be as clumsy and random in their effectiveness as he views the whole galaxy.  Even this Gungan is a useful tool.  To a trained mind, there is no such thing as an element that cannot be turned into a useful tool.  The Gungan might appear to be as clumsy as the droids, even worse, but he is a native of Naboo.  What else is there to say about that?

Everything seems to be out of control at the moment.  But it isn't.  Everything is going according to plan.  He saves the Gungan's life.  Soon, Qui-Gon knows, his own life will need to be sacrificed.  But that will hardly matter.  Darth Sidious rises.  The Sith rise again.  The boy will bring balance to the Force.  And there will be a new order in the galaxy.

Nothing left to chance.  He brushes off some of the mud and moves on.