Young Obi-Wan 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 Trade Federation battle droids attacked
the remote world of Tatooine and enslaved the native population. The
Trade Federation turned Tatooine into a slave planet. During this
attack, the Trade Federation killed the entire Skywalker family except
for young Anakin and his mother.
Upon learning that the Trade Federation had enslaved Tatooine, the
Republic summoned the Jedi to oust the Trade Federation from this area
of the Republic. With each new attack on the Republic, the Trade
Federation 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 Trade
Federation 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 Trade Federation 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 Trade Federation. 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 Trade Federation 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 Trade Federation 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 Trade Federation ambassadors.
The mercenaries succeeded in killing both-sides ambassadors. The Trade
Federation leaders were outraged by the Republic's apparent deceit;
likewise, the Republic leaders were outraged. Fighting broke out between
the Trade Federation and the Republic forces in the Trade Federation
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 Trade Federation 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 dark side 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 Trade Federation battle droids 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 Trade Federation; 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 Trade Federation scientists
were trying to perfect a new technology to provide the Trade Federation
with the military advantage they so desperately needed. Knowing that if
the Trade Federation perfected this devastating technology, the Trade
Federation 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 Trade Federation, but the war was not
over. It would drag on for years. Back on Coruscant, Kenobi and the
other Jedi and Republic warriors were rewarded for their valor.
