I nodded, reluctantly. He told me to go back to the ship and send the council a message telling them what had happened. I did as ordered and filled them in on everything. They gave us more places on Geonosis to search, the leftover lands away from the arena and gave us places where more droid troops could be hiding.

We checked every place we could think of and more on Geonosis. It was like Dooku had never been on this planet. We left and got back to Coruscant shortly after midnight, a day after we had left.

The Clone Wars lasted for three long years after that. Most of it I spent away from Coruscant, away from everything that was important to me.

Padme moved back to Coruscant after staying a few more months on Naboo. She bought an apartment that was big enough for both of us but small enough that no one would say anything about her living there by herself.

The war reached pretty much everywhere, even to the Outer Rim Sieges which is where Obi-Wan and I spent most of the war, where most of our missions took place. We had many missions on many different planets. The ones I remember most were on Cato Neimoidia, Kamino, Balamak, and Uirujansi, all of which I had to save Obi-Wan in some way or another.

The mission to Kamino I remember most for reasons I don't know why. We had been sent there because the Jedi Council suspected Dooku would hire someone else to negotiate with the Kaminowans about creating clones for them. If that happened, this war would be a lot harder for us to win.

We went there and talked with two Kaminowans that Obi-Wan had met before. On our way out we were attacked and separated by a new apprentice of Dooku's and more droid units. Obi-Wan battled the new Sith apprentice Asajj while I fought of most of the droids. I managed to get to the fight just as Asajj was about to knock Obi-Wan off one of the main structures. He was hanging on by his grappling hook which was attached to something at the top of the structure.

Asajj turned to face me. I had my lightsaber out and ready as the rain poured on my face. I used the Force to try and push her back, but her hand was already out, pushing against mine. I could feel a raw power coming from her and I immediately knew it was the dark side.

I had never felt the dark side in someone until that moment. Maybe that's why I remember that mission so much more than any other. In the end, I used the Force to push her ship almost off the edge. She ran after it to try and stop it before it crashed.

I helped Obi-Wan climb back up as Asajj left Kamino.

After the mission on Cato Neimoidia, the Council appointed Obi-Wan to be on the Jedi Council. I didn't know why but aside from feeling happy for him, I felt a jealous feeling that had become more and more familiar inside me.

After our next mission in which I saved Obi-Wan, our clone troops and the mission, they appointed me to a regular Jedi Knight. I wasn't a master, but I wasn't an apprentice anymore either. Throughout the war, I became a celebrity of state, despite Jedi ascetics frowning upon such honors. I suppose it's only right to say that the more missions we went on and the more people praised us, the "Heroes of the Republic," the more arrogant I grew. I began thinking that there wasn't anything I couldn't do.

I was also thankful for Obi-Wan. Although, most of the time it was me saving him, there were times I was grateful to have him by my side. His guidance and wisdom is what helped me become the Jedi I needed to be to fight in this war.

I also missed Padme. I missed her so much it made my heart hurt, physically hurt to be away from her. I found I couldn't think about her during missions, I couldn't allow myself to get distracted. I would write to her whenever I could, but I didn't get to see her enough in those horrible three years.

I led the 501st legion of clone troopers on many campaigns after the first nine months of the war had passed. Clone Captain Rex served under me. He was the commander that had been with us on Geonosis, and his rank moved up to Captain as the months went on and on. I was bold and aggressive, but I quickly learned that a well-chosen word proves more effective than a flashing lightsaber.

I also trusted my superior Force abilities to bail me out of a tight squeeze, which I found myself in often.

During the Battle of Mournilirist, I was placed in charge of the space attack against the home world of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, which was a key member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. My exceptional plotting skills and leadership led clone pilots to defeat the enemy forces.

When we had mostly gotten the enemy ships back, I noticed a rogue ship off away from the fighting. I tried jamming its comlink, but it was too far out of range.

He was heading in the wrong direction. He wasn't heading anywhere near the fighting. I stretched out and sensed that he was heading somewhere else, somewhere that had someone waiting for him.

He was important, I knew that much. I turned my ship to follow his.

Obi-Wan called my name over the comlink. "What in the blazes are you doing?" he asked me.

"There's a ship heading away from its main squad. I'm going to follow him to see where he's going," I explained. Something inside of me was urging me to follow this ship, I didn't know why and I couldn't explain it, but I knew it was the right choice.

"No, I don't think that's a very good idea. Just get back here and help us finish off these last ships," Obi-Wan's voice said.

"Master, I really think I should follow this ship. I think he's going somewhere important. He could take us to the leaders of the Banking Clan," I suggested.

I zoomed my ship forward and followed the small ship. Once he got onto me it turned into a chase. I zoomed and managed to keep up with him. I knew there was no way he was going to out fly me. He landed in the jungles of Yavin 4.

That's where I first dueled Asajj by myself. Beneath the jungle canopy, amid the ruins of ancient Sith temples, we fought. Only our ferocious lightsaber attacks lighted up our dank surroundings. I repulsed Asajj but only did so by giving into my anger.

The only other time I remember ever giving into my anger before that duel was when I had killed the Tusken Raiders. I felt a strange feeling of power lurking inside me. I didn't know what it was, only that it was alien inside me.

As the Clone Wars raged on, Obi-Wan and I were rarely far apart. We were always usually dispatched as a team in battlefronts. As a Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan eventually received the rank of General, with me as his lieutenant. It was on the rain-soaked world of Jabiium that I had to take cover on my own. That was the mission I had hated the most so far in the war. Obi-Wan was thought to have been killed in a Separatist attack and I led a group of similarly "orphaned" Padawans.

I was surprised how much thinking he was dead hurt me. I found myself not being able to focus. I felt a sorrow inside me I hadn't felt sense I had lost my mother. I didn't think Obi-Wan would die and I didn't think if he did it would affect me as much as it did.

In the midst of this battle, I received a priority communiqué from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He requested that I oversee the evacuation of Jabiim in person.

It really pained me to not fight alongside my comrades in the final push. But I had to obey an authority as great and a friendship so close as Palpatine's.

The evacuation of Jabiim was an ugly, controversial extraction; with the Republic abandoning the local forces to fend for themselves. Captain Gillmunn, the local leader of Jabiimi loyalists, swore vengeance on me and the Jedi Order. He pulled a gun on me and I reacted by using the Force to start choking him.

It was a frightening use of the Force. One that I was afraid and amazed of. It came easily to me, though. I think that's what scared me the most about it; how easily it came to me to use it. It was the first time I had used the Force in that way.

After evacuating Jabiim, I was stationed at the medical centers on New Holstice. I met up with A'Sharad Hett, a young Jedi raised in the Tusken Raider culture. My hatred for the Tusken Raiders for the murder of my mother grew and grew. I was deeply conflicted when I was teamed up with Hett on a mission to Aargonar. Unable to express my prejudice, anger and hate toward Hett, I aimed my hatred toward a group of Yuzzem Confederacy troops.

I slaughtered them all. I imagined they were the Tusken Raiders who had kidnapped and tortured my mother. That's how I did it. Again, it scared me how easily I could let my anger and hate flow through me to fight and to kill, but at the same time it gave me a sense of new power.

A power I had never felt before.

After I reined in my emotions, I revealed my dark secret to Hett. In return, he removed his Tusken mask, which revealed his perfectly human features to me. I think it was mostly so I would view him as a fellow Jedi and not as a Tusken Raider. Hett chose to keep my burden a secret, and he knew the truth just as well as I did. It was ultimately up to me to confess my transgressions to the Jedi Council.

I never did.

Time and again, the Separatists pushed, and I found myself restrained by my oaths to the Jedi. I couldn't share my darker thoughts with the Jedi-the thoughts that overwhelmed me that night in the Tusken Raider village. I knew that such a path was a gateway to more power, but somewhere deep inside me I also knew that it led to the dark side. The only person I felt comfortable confiding my troubles to, was a friend I had since my days as a child hero on Naboo:

Chancellor Palpatine. He encouraged my talents. I felt he was the only one not asking anything from me. He was letting me be, and appreciating me for my efforts and talents-Palpatine wasn't imposing boundaries nor begging for aid. I was also thankful for his teaching and guidance. He talked to me as often as I was on Coruscant and told me how wonderful it was that I was doing so much for the Republic and that I was becoming a great Jedi.

Far greater than anyone he'd ever met.

Another ache and something that conflicted my thoughts was the absence of Padme. Long weeks stretched into months where I would not see Padme at all. As a devoted Senator, she kept a watchful eye on the war, but much of her interest was on the scattered reports of the ongoing war was deeply personal to her. I could sense that. The five months we were kept apart during the Outer Rim Sieges tore at our hearts.

During the last year of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and I were stationed in the Outer Rim and had been there for five months. That's when the news reached us.

Coruscant was under attack. Not only was the planet that held my beloved Padme targeted, but also my very close friend had been kidnapped by the merciless General Grievous and his droid forces.

"Come quick," Obi-Wan told me. I followed him to the main floor where the Council's faces appeared in a hologram.

"The attack on Coruscant is finally over," Master Windu told us.

I sighed in relief. "Any causalities?" I blurted before Obi-Wan could speak. Yoda and Mace exchanged glances.

"The Chancellor has been kidnapped by General Grievous. His ship is just outside the planet's atmosphere," Mace explained.

I mentally sighed in relief and pain at the same time. Padme was safe, but Palpatine wasn't.

"Come back here, you two must. Lead a fighter attack on Grievous you will," Yoda commanded.

"We already have some troops up there, but they won't be enough. You must send an attack and rescue the Chancellor," Mace commanded.

"Yes, Master Windu," Obi-Wan answered. Their hologram disappeared as we walked out. I ordered the clone pilots to get to their ships. As I ran to my ship, I saw R2 getting put into the side of it. I looked and saw Obi-Wan jump into his Jedi Starfighter. We were going back up into the skies...where I most loved to be outside of being with Padme. I reined in my thoughts, careful to not reveal anything to Obi-Wan and told myself: keep your thoughts in check. Focus on rescuing the Chancellor. You'll get to see Padme later, I thought.

Our new mission began.

We flew and reached the Capital Planet in almost record time. I flew the ship upside-down and back around the right way as we approached. I heard Obi-Wan calling the other fighters behind us into formation. The rest of the fighters were piloted by clone troopers.

"Rex, stay close to me. I need another wingman," I ordered into the comlink.

"Copy, Sir," he answered.

"Droid ships dead ahead!" Obi-Wan yelled into the comlink. I plunged ahead everyone else and shot at the oncoming ship. I heard fire outside my ship everywhere.

Then I saw it. Just below us; Coruscant. I tuned in my feelings of hope and relief and looked ahead.

"You alright?" Obi-Wan asked me.

"Just excited, Master," I answered him. Together we maneuvered, fired and flew in perfect synch. Our starfighters stayed close enough to each other. A battle raged on around us and I felt completely at home in the sky. Despite the battle, I felt perfectly relaxed, but I kept my senses sharp and watchful.

Obi-Wan's ship shook and got farther away from mine. I didn't have time to look to see what had happened, though because a Trade Federation Droid Drop fighter was heading right for me. I blasted it and smiled brightly.

Obi-Wan must've pressed the comlink button on accident, because I heard him muttering to himself. "Don't worry, Master. There isn't a droid made that can outfly you," I reassured him. "And no other way to get to the Chancellor," I added after a thought.

This had been his idea after all.

"Look out, four droids inbound..." Obi-Wan warned over the comm. I used the Force to guide my ship to stay as close to Obi-Wan's as I could get. We swerved together as four Trade Federation Droid Drop Fighters attacked us. I spun around to come to the side of one of the ships as I fired on another. I laughed as I heard Obi-Wan sarcastically congratulate me over the comlink.

I swerved down underneath the other Drop Fighter to confuse him, and then moved my ship up. The force from my hit left part of the bottom of his ship damaged enough for him to have to stop maneuvering.

"Oh for Perotti's sake, just shoot him! Stop fooling around!" Obi-Wan yelled at me.

"Sorry, Master," I answered with a chuckle. I swerved back behind the Drop Fighter and shot him down. "Satisfied?" I asked with a laugh.

"Perfect," Obi-Wan answered. I could almost hear him wince. It took me only seconds to realize why he'd suddenly gotten quiet. The two Drop Fighters that were left had gone after him. Even from inside my cockpit, I could tell he was struggling to maintain control of his ship.

"We've got to split them up," he said to me.

"Break left, Master. Fly through the guns on that tower," I told him. He did exactly as I'd said and the two Drop Fighters followed him, just as I'd hoped.

"See? No problem," I replied to another mutter from Obi-Wan.

"Easy for you to say . . . why am I always the bait?" he demanded.

"Don't worry. I'm coming around behind you," I promised. Somehow, he skillfully maneuvered around a large Starship's superstructure, but the two Drop Fighters stayed right on his tail. They started blasting him with heavy laser fire.

"They're all over me!" he called.

"Dead ahead! Closing....lock onto them, R2," I said to R2 who was keeping my ship perfectly intact from outside on one of the wings. He beeped his reply, but I didn't have time to look at the screen to read what he said. I swooped in behind one of the Drop Fighters for the kill. I blasted him and chuckled as it exploded.

"We got him, R2," I said with another laugh. I quickly finished the other Drop Fighter as I heard R2 beep an angry reply at me. I looked and noticed the big Trade Federation cruiser up ahead.

"Master General Grevious's ship is directly ahead," I informed him. I continued, after reading a reply from R2. "The one crawling with vulture droids."

"Oh I see it," Obi-Wan said. "Oh this is going to be very easy," Obi-Wan commented sarcastically. Up ahead, I could see the vulture fighters transform into flight configuration, lift off the cruiser and fly our way to attack us.

"Come on, Master," I said into the comm...

"Not this time. There's too much at stake. We need help," he said to me. "Odd Ball do you copy?" he asked.

"Copy Red Leader," I heard over the comm.

"Mark my position. Form your squad up behind me," he ordered.

"We're on your tail, General Kenobi. Set S-foils in attack position," Odd Ball ordered the fighters behind him. I didn't have to look to know that six Tri-fighters joined the vulture droid fighters and come after us. As if it was a reflex, Obi-Wan and I both extended the foils on the ends of our wings.

"This is where the fun begins," I said, smiling. "Master ten vulture droids straight ahead. They're coming down the left side," I informed.

"Add five Tri-Fighters on the right to that..."

"I'm coming in straight ahead," I said, plunging my ship forward. I moved it with speed and relied on the Force to help maneuver my ship.

"Take it easy," Obi-Wan ordered.

I heard Odd Ball say, "I'm on your right, Red Leader!" Four Clone Fighters moved in beside me.

"Incoming!" I yelled as soon as I saw and felt the five Tri-Fighters swing by me. R2 squealed in horror.

"Five more on the right!" Obi-Wan yelled.

"Ahead of you there, Master," I said as four more vulture droids moved in high and to the left. We both decided, without talking to each other, to split up. We made a loop around the Droid Fighters and came up behind them.

We blasted them together. "Here we go," I muttered.

"I'm going high and right," Obi-Wan said.

"Wait; there are four more of them!" I yelled at him.

"Stay with me...swing back and right. There, help me engage. Let them pass between us," he ordered.

"I'm coming around," I informed him. I flew in behind the Tri-Fighters and kept firing until there was only one left.

"Thank you, but you're a little late," Obi-Wan replied sarcastically.

I grinned, although he couldn't see it. "How many more are back there?" I asked, immediately getting serious. R2 beeped a reply. "Three...four...Not good," I muttered.

"You've got four on your tail!" Obi-Wan yelled at me.

"I know," I told him

"Four on your left!"

"I know!" I yelled a little louder.

He called my name as the four on my left closed in.

"I know!" I yelled again this time loud enough almost to break the comlink.

"Break right and go high," he ordered.

To be contradictory, I flew down low and left. I could almost feel Obi-Wan rolling his eyes at me. I flew low, almost too low, near a Trade Federation Starship. I tried to maneuver through the flack.

"I can't get through all this!" I yelled in frustration.

"Use the Force. Let it guide your ship..." Obi-Wan reminded me.

It annoyed me at times whenever he treated me as if I was still a Padawan learner, but I closed my eyes and did as ordered.

"Obi-Wan do you copy?" I asked as the static got worse. "I'm going to pull them through the needle," I told him.

"Too dangerous. First Jedi rule: Survive," he told me.

"Sorry I don't have another choice," I answered back. "Thin them out a little," I told him.

He flew down and fired on some of them. "Keep me steady. Now break left," he ordered me. Together we broke off. I flew into a trench ("the needle") down below.

"You'll never get through there," Obi-Wan said, oddly calm.

"Easy R2, we've done this before," I reassured him. I read on the screen R2's reply: WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!

"Wrong thought, R2," I told him.

"Rely on the Force. Think yourself through, your ship will follow," Obi-Wan told me, almost copying his words from before. I moved through the trench, getting really close. But the plan worked; the remaining Tri-Fighters behind me crashed.

"I'm through," I said into the comm. As I came back up, I noticed a clone pilot hit and explode. The others back there were surrounded.

"I'm going to go help them out!" I said.

"NO!" came Obi-Wan's quick reply. "They are doing their job so we can do ours. Head for the command ship!" he ordered me.

I sensed something and looked ahead just in time. "Missiles. Pull up!"

"They overshot us," Obi-Wan told me. I looked back. They were coming back around for us again.

"They're coming around," I informed him. Obi-Wan and I were forced to split up. I was out flying mine and way ahead as I heard Obi-Wan reply to his droid R4.

"No, no, no nothing too fancy," he said.

I chuckled and noticed the missiles getting to close to me. "Stand by R2. Serge all power units. Reverse thrusters," I ordered him. He beeped his reply. I spun around and around in circles over and over again until the missiles collided with each other.

I laughed. "Great job, R2!"

"Flying is for DROIDS!" Obi-Wan complained. I smiled and looked off to where he was flying at. He managed to fly the missiles into some debris and get rid of them, but as he flew through it, the debris stuck onto his ship. "I'm hit!" he yelled to me.

I scrunched up my eyes in confusion. "I see them...They're buzz droids," I told him. They broke R4 and started to shut down all of the controls. Since R4 was "dead" he couldn't fix Obi-Wan's ship.

"They're shutting down all the controls!" Obi-Wan yelled at me.

"Move to the right so I can get a perfect shot at them," I told him.

"The mission. Get to the command ship and get the Chancellor! I'm running out of ideas," he said.

I wouldn't leave him. I plunged forward and fired at his ship, aiming for the buzz droids.

"In the name of-" I noticed I had gotten a couple of the droids. "Hold your fire! You're not helping!" he yelled at me.

"I agree. Bad idea," I agreed. An explosion went off and I had to move away from Obi-Wan's ship to avoid the debris.

"I can't see a thing. My cockpit's fogging," he said over the comm. I pulled in my foils and flew in beside him. "They're all over me!"

I hit my ship into his and missed. I could hear him grunt over the comm. "Move to the right," I ordered.

"Hold on, you're going to get us both killed!" I could hear beeping in the background as he tried to do something else to help. It wasn't going to work. I called to the Force to guide my thoughts, to help me come up with something...I had to figure a way to help him.

"Get out of here. There's nothing more you can do," he said. His voice was reassuring.

"I'm not leaving without you, Master. I won't leave," I said firmly. I aimed my ship so that it was even with his and hit it into his again. This time, I got three buzz droids. There was one left on top of his ship and it crawled onto mine. I watched it go over to R2. It would try to disconnect him so that my ship would be flying blind beyond repair.

"Hit him, R2!" I called. R2 beeped and hit the buzz droid with his laser. Nothing happened.

"Any ideas?" I asked, more to myself than to Obi-Wan.

"R2, hit the buzz droid's center eye," Obi-Wan suggested. R2 did as Obi-Wan said and the buzz droid shut down and flew off my ship.

We were closing in on the command ship now. "The General's command ship is dead ahead," I told Obi-Wan.

"Well...have you noticed that the shields are still up?!" Obi-Wan asked me in disbelief.

"Sorry, Master," I told him. I spun around to the right, going all the way around. When I came back up, I fired into the controls on the side of the ship.

The shields came down, but so did the doors. Obi-Wan and I plunged ahead, trying to get inside the ship before the doors closed. It was a race and I prayed we would make it.

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," said Obi-Wan.