Amidala said farewell to Luke in the Senate. He was continuing his work as Senator. It seemed as though the clone crisis had passed, yet Luke said they were not out of the hot water yet. "Keep your eyes open," he cautioned Amidala as he waved goodbye. He was off on a diplomatic mission with the Chancellor.

She nodded and waved to the Senator who had become a friend.

--------------------

Anikan got into his fighter. He was escort to Senator Luke and the Chancellor. As usual, when he got alone he became haunted by thoughts of Amidala. He cursed and wondered it he could ever banish Amidala's sad eyes from his thoughts. This was going through his head as he cruised away from Coruscant, when suddenly the world exploded around him.

---------------------

Anikan reported to the Galactic Senate: "And I did what anyone else would do. My concern was for the Chancellor's safety. After the Mandolorians fired on Senator Luke's transport, destroying it, I knew that I had to respond before they fired on the Chancellor."

"We commend your courage Anikan Skywalker," Chancellor Palpatine proclaimed, "you need not defend your actions. Without you, I would be dead and with me the stability of the Galaxy would be lost. The people have made that clear." To all the Senate, "I will not allow our galaxy to be attacked in such a manner. We have worked too hard to reach this point. I submit to the Senate a resolution to make a formal declaration of war . . ."

--------------------

War was declared.

-------------------

Amidala was wearing traditional Naboo mourning clothes. Luke was not family, but he was a fellow senator and she felt that the good man's life needed to be aknowledged formally in her dress. She was sad as she sat with Mon Mothma and Obi-Wan to discuss the current situtation.

"Why are you so worried?" Amidala asked her Senator, "The situation in the Senate is ideal. We need to have harmony in matters during this war."

"The War of the Clones, it is beginning to be called." Mon Mothma ventured in her quiet voice. "It is indeed the greatest threat we've faced in years. A galaxy-wide war. What worries me is that . . ."

"The attacks against you continue," Obi-Wan finished. "And the Jedi are still taking hits. And why is that? We have done nothing disloyal. We are in full support of this war. Why are our opponents in the Senate continually barraging us?" Amidala had pressed her hands to her temples. What to do?

Obi-Wan said, "This is a problem that seems more subtle, more ominous than the clone debate. I fear that our problems are beyond our arena. We must appeal to the Jedi Council."

This time there were no objections.

-----------------------

Mace Windu admonished the trio before him. "And this hostility, how could it have begun?"

"Queen Amidala does not entirely know," Obi-Wan answered. "There could perhaps be no reason at all. Sometimes, inexplicably, the tide turns against people in power."

"Wait," Mon Mothma said. "I remember the first true attack against us. It was when, with your endorsement, we publically disapproved of the Galactic Senate's takeover of all corporations."

"Yes, Palpatine's plan to end greed like the Trade Federation's for all time," Obi-Wan answered, "and I was surprised because I thought that you of all people would have been for the Chancellor's bill, you who had suffered so much at the hands of the greedy Trade Federation."

"Yes, abuses such as those committed by the Trade Federation I opposed, but not the actual free-enterprise of commerce," Amidala explained.

Obi-Wan continued, "And because the Chancellor could have done so much good with the bill, your vote against it was seen as heartless, selfish--opposed to the galaxy's good."

"And Alderaan agreed with Naboo," Mom Mothma added.

"But the bill passed," Amidala insisted, "why then would that hurt us?"

"You showed yourselves willing to stand alone against the Chancellor's wishes, he wants collective assent in his senate," Obi-Wan informed her.

"As do I," Amidala said. "It was the bureaucracy which nearly destroyed my people. I am glad for the harmony that has existed for several years in the Senate."

"But it is free debate that keeps the government safe, is it not?" Obi-Wan asked.

The three stopped. They realized that they had been speaking as if the Jedi were not present.

"Continue, please," Mace Windu entreated, "it is often through questioning aloud, that one thinks through issues and arrives at truth."

Obi-Wan replied, "That truth is clear. I see it, don't you?" His eyes searching the Council before him.

"See something dark, I do," Yoda answered. "The Chancellor does not like the alliance that you three have formed. Done everything to divide you from the Senate he has."

"He is using you Queen Amidala," Mace Windu added.

Amidala had to protest, "This is insane! The Chancellor has always been my supporter. I trust him more than anyone," she stopped. She recalled a similar conversation in Senator Palpatine's quarters, several years ago.

"Your enemy he is," Yoda said simply.

"The Force has revealed it," Mace Windu declared.

"Master," Obi-Wan spoke up again, "if what you say is true, then all of us could be in danger." His eyes pleaded, "Surely you must see that Jedi protection is needed for the Queen again!"

"Yes," Amidala said, "though I care not for my own safety, I am conscious of my role in defending the interests of Naboo. I can think of no Jedi whom I trust more than Obi-Wan."

"Not with his commission in the Galactic Fleet," Mace Windu observed.

"Commission?" Amidala exclaimed, turning questioning eyes to Obi-Wan.

"I will serve as a Galactic General."

"And the Jedi approve?"

It was as though nobody else was there. Just the two friends.

"Jedi have served the military before in order to protect," Obi-Wan told her.

"But how can you?"

Mon Mothma spoke up, "You two may discuss this later. Back to our original concern: Can we continue to fight a war with a leader whom we cannot trust?"

"I still can't believe this . . ." Amidala said uncertainly, "I've always trusted him, even when things got nasty in the clone debate."

"I believe we can trust him," Obi-Wan said, "as head of the military. Our enemies are the clones. If we lose this war, then Palpatine goes with us."

"The decisive battle will be in the Senate, not in the battleships. I have foreseen it," Mace Windu said.

Yoda directed his gaze to Mace Windu, "But farther into the future that is."

Mon Mothma was getting frustrated, "So what can we do in the here and now?" she asked.

"Clouded it is, fortune tellers we are not. Live your own destiny with your free-wills you must."

Mon Mothma was thoughtful, "I guess all we can do is watch our backs."

"The Jedi, you need not in this," Yoda said.

"But master . . ." Obi-wan began to protest, Yoda's eyes warned him to back off. Obi-Wan shut his mouth abrubtly.

"Please consider it," Mon Mothma asked.

"Very well consider it in council, we will," Yoda conceded.

All backed away, moving in a trio Mon Mothma shaking her head.

Obi-Wan took up the back, his cloak billowing out behind him. He took Amidala by the arm and led her out onto the balcony, "I wanted to tell you, but the time got away."

"Think nothing of it. Now that I know two of my dearest friends are in this fight, I will pray even more for a swift victory."

"You doubt it?"

"I trust the Jedi, but . . . you know how Ani feels about Chancellor Palpatine."

"Don't speak of it to him," Obi-Wan ordered. "We have an important fight ahead of us. But be mindful of what Master Yoda said about the battle to come in your arena. I foresee that a great deal will depend on your actions, and Mon Mothma's." He put his hands on her shoulders, looking intently at her, "In this I trust you implicitly. You will do what you have always done magnificently--lead. Follow your conscience, it has been well formed."

"I will, Obi-Wan," Amidala matched her friend's solemity.

She whispered again to herself, as she watched the Jedi stalk away,

"I will."

--------------------

The Council gave Amidala, Geog, newly created Jedi knight, as bodyguard.

"Oh, great!" Amidala thought. "Won't Ani love this?"

-------------------

But Anikan Skywalker was having difficulty thinking of anything but training for the war. His squadron, consisting of his right-hand man Kister among other Academy friends, was in constant training. Then abrubtly the order came: Chancellor Palpatine ordered Anikan's Squadron out for a dangerous mission. They must leave immediately.

--------------------

Amidala sat up in bed with a start. She felt something. Dread. It was coming. She wanted Anikan there with her more than she ever had. She jumped up and thought, "Where is it?" She searched her rooms until she found that necklace Anikan Skywalker had given her so many years ago.

-------------------

Anikan had a dream. A dream so powerful it seemed to shake the foundations of his room. He knew only one thing: Amidala. I must see her. Kister was sipping coffee, looking over the last of his gear when he saw Anikan run through the house towards the garage. "Ani, what are you doing?" he called after him. "It will only take a minute," Anikan replied, starting up his speeder. "What will? Ani, we're ordered to leave in half an hour. The Chancellor has commanded . . ." "Hang the Chancellor then!" He shouted over his shoulder, straddling his speeder and taking off at break-neck speed.

--------------------

Amidala was sipping tea on the verandah of her quarters. She was trying to calm down, but couldn't shake the feeling that woke her up that morning. As if answering her reverie, the object of her thoughts appeared and jumped out of his speeder, running to her.

"Ani! What?" "No time. We're ordered out. I just might lose my commission for coming, but I wouldn't leave without . . . without . . ."

"Leave?" They were leaving? Dread filled her entire being. Her friend was saying goodbye, off to face an enemy that could more than likely kill him.

Anikan sensed her thoughts and looked down. He couldn't say anything more because that choking feeling was back.

Amidala pulled something out and said something.

"What?" he asked.

"This, do you remember?" It was the necklace he had made her so long ago. He had just left his mother, and Amidala was there. She had told him that she cared for him. . .

He got the courage to look at her, and he saw that she was crying, large tears, tearing out of her. He had never seen her cry.

"I . . . I have a bad feeling about this Ani, oh I don't want you to die, I couldn't . . . I . . ." And then she was in his arms, and he was kissing her. Not the friend, but the lover that had been building inside of him from the moment he met her.

He pulled away from the kiss, "I love you, Ami," he said fiercely, "ever since that day so long ago when I was some stupid kid, and there was the sandstorm and Qui-Gon . . .." At the mention of Qui-Gon his voice broke, and Amidala cried harder. "We've lost a lot haven't we?" he asked. She nodded. And now he was crying too, and kissing her again and again, "But I won't lose you, I swear it. When I come back, I'll marry you."

She looked up into his face and managed a grin, "Thanks for asking!"

"You're welcome," he replied and kissed her again, whispered into her ear, "I'm going now and I won't look back." Amidala nodded. He broke the embrace, jumped into his speeder, and peeled away.

Amidala watched him disappear, silhouetted against the sky, her hair loose and crying like some mythical goddess.

She was haunted then. What was it?

She hadn't told him how she felt and he might die and never know! She stormed into her room, desperate to get the message out before the fleet hit hyperspace. Just four simple words: "I love you, too."

---------------------

Anikan's fighters docked on the master ship. He was immediately shown into the command room for the briefing. "Ah, Captain Skywalker," General Tarkin shook his hand, "I have long admired your work. Now let us begin . . . " A hologram appeared in the center of the room. "Your squadron could be the instrument to put an end to this war before it truly begins. It could be dangerous. Are your men up to it?" "My Squadron? You bet. And I would be honored to put an end to these bloodsuckers."

Tarkin gave a gray smile. "Good. Our intelligence has discovered the center of cloning in the system at Mandolor. We have found a way to eradicate this cloning center and the technology. Your mission is to take out this military target."

"Yeah, no cloning technology, no clones."

"Precicely."

"My men will do it sir!" Anikan then felt a ripple in the Force. Something was wrong. He looked at the data and frowned, "Wait. Is it not so that this system is unusually fragile? An attack from my boys could cause severe loss of life." "It is a military target. Don't worry. Little or no life-forms are there. A small price to pay for the good that will come." The ends justify the means. Was this the only way or just the easy way? Tarkin seemed to reply to his thoughts, "The Chancellor himself gave me the orders. "

His eyes shifted down.

--------------------

Everything was going as planned. Anikan was psyched for the battle with a single thought and focus. Then something beeped.

"Yeah, Artoo. What is it?" The droid pointed out a reading coming from the cloning center's location.

"There's something . . ." Anikan replied. "Yes. Man, that's far more populated than reported." He read more data, "Civilian settlements!"

Skywalker signalled to base, "We're receiving new information. These readings of the cloning center show . . ."

The voice of Tarking replied, "The readings are not your concern, Captain. You have your orders. Proceed."

"Proceed," Anikan muttered. Follow those orders. But . . . the Force seemed to be telling him something else, he hesitated.

Then it happened, Anikan heard a voice in his head, "The decision's yours, Skywalker!" Anikan thought he was going crazy, but then it came again, "I want you to be the one to do this. Fire! " Anikan recognized the speaker. This was the voice of the Chancellor! Suddenly it all clicked into place. Only one strong in the Force could communicate with him like this. Scenes flashed before Anikan's mind. All of the Chancellor's his snide comments, his attacks on Amidala, his smiles . . . and now a command to destroy innocent lives. These things were not the fruits of a Jedi.

"He's a Sith!" Anikan knew it instantly. Obi-Wan had spoken of this before, the truth that struck so suddenly that it had to be the Force.

"Trust your feelings," the voice then insisted.

"My feelings, uh." Whatever! What was that supposed to mean?

"Trust your feelings," the voice repeated. "Enough already!" Anikan said out loud. Then another scene went through his mind. He was 9 years old, wanting to be a Jedi. Yet rejected. An unhappy memory. Yet Amidala often said that unhappy memories were excellent opportunities for learning and growing in moral strength. What had he learned? It came then. There are times when one must NOT trust their feelings, which are weak and vulnerable. One has to go outside of himself to something far beyond, to the Almighty Force, to the Code which the Force wrote. Then to the Council which discerned the Force. And sometimes even as close to home as the experience and advice from Obi-Wan and Amidala. But never just what he, one person, FELT.

Qui-Gon had strong feelings and they were wrong. Anikan's rejection by the Jedi, instead of devastating him, had given him the most pivotal lesson of his life.

Anikan wondered what kind of man he would have become had he not been given that experience.

So, feelings out the window. So what to look to? The Code. 'Respect life, only use the Force for defense.'

Taking out the facility was defense, melting the people was not. "All hands, pull back!" "What?" Kister exclaimed. "We're not going to hit the target."

"Are you nuts?"

"We're going in gorilla style." Like Amidala on Naboo, he thought. Aloud, "I'm sick to death of the masses having to pay for the crimes of the few. We'll destroy that center but not the people."

He swung his vehicle around to the front, "Follow my lead!"

Anikan was too absorbed in the battle to recognize that the voice was gone, fled like a coward before the light of truth.

---------------------

Anikan reported to Chancellor Paplatine on his shuttle as they arrived in Coruscant, "I did it sir, because I didn't think it was right to make thousands pay for the crimes of the few." "But would you have done it if there were no other way?" "I don't need to answer that, sir, because I didn't need to do something else. One must stay grounded in real situations and not make vital decisions based on hypotheses." "My, you sound like Queen Amidala"

Anikan grinned, "Really?"

Palpatine seemed uncomfortable, "Yes, and it was of her that I wanted to speak. Think on it. Distance from her is perhaps the best policy for you to take now. We must keep our stability. We have won this war, thanks to you and your prudence . . . The people know it. They are out there for you. Why look at those crowds, they would do just about anything for you!"

This dude is so transparent, Anikan thought. Why didn't I see it before? But now Palpatine's little method of saying the same lie until people believed it had gone awry. The seduction of power, the temptation was gone.

Yet evil ones often continue, going from stalking, to all out assault, always using the same weapons, on the chance that they'll frighten you into compliance, or send you blindly back to indifference. It was so obvious that this is what Palpatine had been doing that Anikan would have laughed at him, were it not so serious. "I do understand, sir," Anikan replied, looking at him steadily, then musing, "Yes, the distance I keep with Queen Amidala is an important issue for me . . . I'll be certain to show you the distance I intend to keep!"

Palpatine's smile wavered. Those were the words he wanted to hear, but for some reason he didn't feel he got the right answer.

The door to the ship opened and the men descended.

----------------------

They went out onto the platform of cheering Coruscant. It was heaven. "Nothing beats this, does it?" Palpatine ventured, uncertainly.

"Well, there's one thing that might!" Anakin exclaimed with an odd smile, his eyes searching. He had been told that the entire Senate delegation would be there. Surely Amidala . . . But where was Naboo? Way in the back, subtly snubbed by the other Senators. Mon Mothma standing humbly, alone, unnoticed. Beside her was the assembled Jedi Council.

Anikan walked to the back, the crowd parting, and then he saw her. She was wearing her formal clothes, but to him she was pure Padme. Fully aware of what he was doing, he ignored the adoring Senators which swarmed about him, and strode purposefully to Queen Amidala. He took her in his arms and gave her such a long passionate kiss that the crowds--after recovering from the shock of seeing this hero display affection for the Ice Queen--wondered whether they would get brain damage from lack of oxygen.

"I'm going to kill you for that, Ani!" Amidala shouted above the noise of the crowd, when the embrace finally ended.

"No," Anikan answered soberly, "I think you'll thank me." He turned, still holding her, now blushing against his chest, and saluted the Jedi Council who had been stoically observing them. Then lastly, he turned back to Palpatine, who nodded. He understood.