Star Wars - Episode I Journal - Anakin Skywalker by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online

me.
    I wanted to tell them that they were wrong. If there was anger in me I could control it. I could rise above it! But I knew I had to appear calm. I couldn’t let them know I was feeling angry.
    Qui-Gon argued some more. He refused to accept the Council’s decision. I was the chosen one, he said, and they had to accept that.
    The chosen one?
    Even Obi-Wan reacted to those words, staring with surprise at Qui-Gon and then at me.
    Yoda would only say that my future was clouded. They couldn’t be sure.
    I didn’t understand. What did they mean by chosen one? Why did I come all this way and leave the only life I knew if I couldn’t become a Jedi?
    Qui-Gon fought and fought. He said that even if the Council disagreed he would train me as his own Padawan Learner.
    Obi-Wan looked shocked. His jaw dropped and for a second I thought he would challenge Qui-Gon. But then he caught himself. I may have imagined it, but for a split second I thought he narrowed his eyes at me before turning to face the Council.
    From the looks on the faces of the Council members, I knew that Qui-Gon had gone too far. Yoda said it was impossible for Qui-Gon to take me as an apprentice as long as he already had one. Qui-Gon told the Council that Obi-Wan was ready.
    Beside him the younger Jedi nodded and said he was ready to face the trials of becoming a Jedi Knight.
    Again, the faces of the Council said that they disagreed. Yoda said he doubted that Obi-Wan was ready, even though Qui-Gon said he had taught the younger Jedi all he could.
    Suddenly the discussion stopped. Mace Windu informed the Council that the decision on my future would have to wait. The Senate was voting for a new Supreme Chancellor. Queen Amidala was returning to her home on planet Naboo. This would widen the confrontation with the Trade Federation.
    Yoda added that it would also draw out the Queen’s attacker. Despite all my mixed-up feelings, I was now certain that Yoda was speaking of the dark warrior. I was scared for the Queen, but I admit I thought of Padmé first. Since she attended the Queen, her life would also be in danger.
    The councilors spoke in serious tones. One of them said the events were moving too fast. They were really worried. Mace Windu told Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to go with the Queen to Naboo. He wanted them to protect the Queen and discover the identity of the dark warrior.
    And then I heard a word I had only heard once before. A thing I doubted truly existed.
    Until now.

Tenth Entry
Past and Future

    As I’ve said before, all manner of strange and frightening voyagers passed through Tatooine. This included some pretty weird old droids.
    One day, about a year before Oui-Gon’s ship landed on Tatooine, I was looking for something in Watto’s junk heap when I came across an old war droid. This unit was really ancient. It was covered with rusty armor plating and even had a fuse box—something I’d only heard about.
    Being curious about old technologies, I dragged it behind the shop and waited until Watto was gone. Then I hooked it up to a universal power source, just to see what would happen. As I suspected, the unit was frozen. Most of its joints had dried up long ago.
    But its electronics were still intact and it seemed to have a working holoprojector. I knew Watto would want a working holoprojector, no matter how old it was. He could always peddle it off to some local mechanic trying to build his own droid.
    I was in the middle of testing the projector when a holograph burst on. It showed some sort of ancient battle, but the visual projection was really bad. I was disappointed. Maybe the projector wasn’t worth salvaging after all.
    I was just about to give up when the audio came on. It, too, was very poor quality, and mostly static. But I could hear screams and grunts and panicked shouts. Something about the Sith this and the Sith that. I couldn’t really get a handle on what was going on. All I could tell was that whatever these Sith things were, they