EPISODE ONE
THE WAYS OF THE FORCE

  Young Kenobi grew up admiring the nobel Jedi and, especially, the elite Council of the Jedi Knights, led by Yoda and other Jedi Masters. However, none of the Jedi Masters believed Kenobi was ready for the rigors of Jedi training until he had proven himself. Eager to become a Jedi as soon as possible, Kenobi enlisted with the Republic Naval Academy as soon as he could.

  At the academy, Kenobi proved to be a brilliant student with a keen eye for military strategy. After completing his training at the academy and after graduating with high honors, Kenobi was commissioned as a captain in the navy.

  Meanwhile, a large contingent of Mandalorian super commandos attacked the remote world of Tatooine and enslaved the native population. The Mandalorian turned Tatooine into a slave planet. During this attack, the Mandalorian killed the entire Skywalker family except for young Anakin and his mother.

  Palpatine balked at the rejection given to him by the Jedi: Why would the most charismatic and talented junior member of the Republic Senate enlist with the lowly Republic Navy to prove himself worthy to a bunch of stuffy and arrogant light-sabre-wielding old men? Palpatine had already taught himself a great deal about the ways of the Force. All he needed now was the help of a dark Jedi Master to complete his training.

  Upon learning that the Mandalorian had enslaved Tatooine, the Republic summoned the Jedi to oust the Mandalorian from this area of the Republic. With each new attack on the Republic, the Mandalorian became bolder and bolder. Kenobi volunteered to join the Republic strike force that would help the Jedi free Tatooine. In a spectacular battle, the Jedi and the Republic forces defeated the Mandalorian at the Battle of Tatooine. While searching the various slave quarters for survivors, Kenobi felt the presence of a Force flow that was even more powerful than the Force flows resonating from the great Jedi Masters. The Force flow was emanating from Young Anakin, who was hiding with his mother in a corner of the slave quarter. Kenobi befriended the young, frightened boy and his mother and took both of them back with him to one of the Republic bases. Kenobi and Anakin's mother would eventually fall in love.

  The corrupt and slothful nature of the Republic's ruling elite and its bureacracy irritated Palpatine. Palpatine constantly argued in the Senate that the Republic was foolish for relying so heavily on the Jedi for protection. Palpatine wanted the Republic to invest heavily in a large naval fleet. However, since the Jedi had successfully protected the Republic for over 1,000 generations, the majority of the Senate thought Palpatine was a zealous lunatic.

  During missions to Eol Sha, Dantooine and Coruscant, Kenobi quickly proved to be one of the Republic's greatest star pilots. At Yoda's insistence, the Jedi Council invited Kenobi to participate in Jedi training under Yoda's tutelage. At Yoda's Jedi Academy, Kenobi arrived with Anakin and Anakin became fascinated with the powers of the Force.

  The Mandalorian continued to be a great thorn in the Republic's side by disrupting Republic trade routes and by raiding and pirating Republic star systems. The Senate refused to act on the pleas of Palpatine and his supporters that the Republic must declare an all-out war on the Mandalorian. Palpatine realized that the incompetent and fatted leaders of the Republic did not have the courage to return the Republic to the zenith of its glory days. Something had to be done to save the Republic from its ruling elite and Palpatine firmly believed it was his destiny to one day rule the Republic. Palpatine sensed that one of the keys to achieving his objectives was a mastery of the darkside of the Force.

  Jedi training is both slow and laborious, but this was still the greatest moment of Kenobi's life. He would seize this opportunity and become a great Jedi Master no matter how much training he would have to endure. Yoda was amazed that Anakin had the strongest Force flow that he had ever felt. The Jedi would have to protect this boy from the darkside.

  By ordering his forces to destroy an unarmed Republic science-research space station, Palpatine framed the Mandalorian and hoped this incident would spark a galactic-wide war. However, the leaders of the Republic were too frightened by the prospects of yet another galactic war. Instead, the Republic sent ambassadors to the Mandalorian home world to seek a negotiated peace. Palpatine plotted to sabotage these negotiations . . .

  While the peace talks were underway and making progress, Palpatine hired a group of nefarious, renegade mercenaries to assassinate both the Republic and Mandalorian ambassadors. The mercenaries succeeded in killing both-sides ambassadors. The Mandalorian leaders were outraged by the Republic's apparent deceit; likewise, the Republic leaders were outraged. Fighting broke out between the Mandalorian and the Republic forces in the Mandalorian star system.

  Desperate to avoid another galactic-wide war, the Jedi (with Kenobi) arrived to settle the conflict. The Jedi managed to bring a truce until the assassinations could be investigated by the Jedi. During the investigation, Kenobi stumbled across information linking Palpatine to the assassinations. Palpatine denied these allegations and scoffed that the Jedi were seeking to frame him. Secretly, Palpatine ordered his agents to kill anyone who could link him to the assassinations. By applying the skills that Kenobi learned from Yoda, Kenobi was able to thwart Palpatine's agents' attempts to have him killed.

  No longer able to trust the Republic, the Mandalorian declared war on the Republic and sought out other star systems to join their alliance. The Jedi were sworn to protect the Republic and its throne at all costs. The galaxy splintered into many factions and the next galactic war was underway . . .

  With tremendous hatred and total impatience, Palpatine quickly mastered the darkside of the Force under the teachings of an evil dark Jedi's tutelage. The dark Jedi told Palpatine that it was Palpatine's destiny to crush the Jedi and to rule the galaxy as its sole dictator. Palpatine returned to the Senate and kept his mastery of the darkside a secret from all his friends, allies and peers. Lusting for more and more power, Palpatine used dark Jedi mind tricks to win over the weak-minded members of the Senate. The elite rulers of the Republic were stunned and confounded by Palpatine's unprecedented surge in popularity.

  In great battles, hundreds of Jedi and Republic troops fought against hundreds of the Mandalorian super commandos and their mysterious allies. Each side suffered tremendous losses.

  The Republic scientists made a breakthrough in cloning technology. For the first time, sentient life forms could be safely cloned. The leaders of the Republic were torn on how to morally utilize this great technology. Palpatine argued for the mass replication of troops to bring a swift end to the war. However, the Jedi firmly refused to permit any cloning of sentient life forms. In a very narrow vote, the Senate permanently banned the use of cloning as a military weapon and made arrangements to permanently hide this dangerous, new technology.

  Palpatine and his followers were outraged because the Republic was foolish enough to place mere morality ahead of a certain and swift victory. Palpatine could take no more. He ordered his agents to secretly copy the blueprints to this new cloning technology by any means necessary. Under the advice of the evil dark Jedi, Palpatine chose to mass clone dark Jedi and troops to create a massive army to eventually oppose his adversaries. It would take years for Palpatine's plan to be completed, but he could afford to wait. The dark Jedi could foresee that the Jedi would defeat the Mandalorians; however, the Jedi would be so weakened and so absent from much of the Republic during the war that Palpatine would be able to successfully complete his evil plan to seize control of the Senate, then the Republic and. eventually, the entire galaxy.

  Feverishly, at a giant asteroid base, the Mandalorian scientists were trying to perfect a new technology to provide the Mandalorian with the military advantage they so desperately needed. Knowing that if the Mandalorian perfected this devastating technology, the Mandalorian would be at a tremendous military advantage, the Jedi and the Republic amassed a large armada to destroy this large asteroid base. In the largest battle of the war so far, Kenobi helped lead thousands of star fighters and cruisers to victory. The asteroid was imploded and miles and miles of star fighter and cruiser debris floated around what remained of the shell that was once an incredibly large asteroid base. This was a stunning defeat for the Mandalorian, but the war was not over. It would drag on for years. Back on the Republic home world, Kenobi and the other Jedi and Republic warriors were rewarded for their valor -- Thatguy173@aol.com