As usual, thanks for all your reviews. A lot of you are wondering what Anakin found in the Sith temple. All I can say that it will be revealed in time, and that, along with his confrontation with Vader, will play a large role in his final showdown with Sidious, which is coming up soon!

Chapter 10-The Temptation of Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi allowed himself a rare moment of selfish indulgence as he stole a glance at Senator Mon Mothma entering the war room. She was dressed very simply in an elegant white robe, and it was her simple beauty that held Obi-Wan in a trance, letting himself absorbing every bit of her essence. Obi-Wan let himself go, imagining what could have been, and could still be.

For the first time in his life Obi-Wan found himself jealous of what Anakin and Padme had. Their unconditional love and acceptance of each other. Their hopes of growing old together with one another and watching their children develop and mature. How they seemed to enjoy every little moment they had between each other while temporarily forgetting the chaos that was a constant background in their lives. Seeing the happiness Anakin had made Obi-Wan wonder if those feelings were missing in his own life. Whether he would ever be able to feel them. With Senator Mothma? He definitely didn't love her, not the kind of love that would lead to an attachment, but he saw the potential. He admired her strength, her personality, and her presence in the Force. It soothed him. From a purely physical standpoint he found himself feeling natural feelings of lust, something that wasn't too foreign to a lifelong Jedi.

But was it possible? A Jedi and a Senator? Anakin had certainly pulled it off. But he wasn't Anakin. Was this just a fancy daydream spawned from too many days of baby-sitting in the desert? Unfortunately Obi-Wan did not have the time to answer his questions as the meeting was now called to a start.

"The Star Destroyers are wreaking havoc on our perimeters," began Lieutenant Ackbar. "The Destroyer Invictus's attack on our flank is not being met with any significant opposition. However, if we divert our fleet to meet its charge we will not stand a chance against the combined force of the Lightning and the Super Star Destroyer."

"Perhaps there is only one thing we can do," said Captain Bail Antilles, leader of the Alderaanian fleet. "If the bulk of our fleet retreats into hyperspace now, we can escape without being tracked, and we will live to fight again another day."

"If you wish to flee, Captain Antilles, that is your prerogative," stated Senator Mothma as she stood up with steel in her eyes and ice in her voice. "However, under no circumstance will any Chandrilian ship retreat and leave our planet undefended against the Imperials." Her aide Sabe stood up behind her and glared at the Alderaanian Captain with hatred.

"With all due respect, Senator, if we lose this battle your planet will be doomed to the same fate." He looked to the Mon Calamarian for help.

"My planet and I have pledged to do anything we can to fight against the tyranny of the Empire." Ackbar's large eyes blinked and his whiskers quivered in anticipation of what he was about to say to his old friend the Senator. "But we cannot sacrifice our lives and our military to a cause that is already lost. If the Imperials wipe us out here our meager Alliance will be crushed and there will be no hope left in the galaxy."

"I appreciate your candor and your honesty, gentlemen. And I cannot thank you enough for being here and helping our planet." She relented and sat back down, looking into the eyes of every person seated around the table and settling onto the only Jedi in the room. "You have not said a word yet, General Kenobi. I want your honest opinion. Can this battle be won?"

Obi-Wan had been plotting in his silence, coming up with a hair-brained plan that only a deranged lunatic such as Anakin Skywalker could think of. He dismissed the thought from his mind, but Mon Mothma's pleading eyes brought them back. "Always in motion, the future is," he stated in his most reassuring, Jedi-like voice. "No victory is ever certain, even for an Imperial Fleet. With the Force we can achieve any miracle."

"And how would this mumbo-jumbo Force of yours help us right now," asked General Rohne Keepa, the highest ranking Chandrilian below Senator Mothma present. Sabe had always disliked the arrogant man and took this opportunity as an excuse to give him a dirty look.

"Perhaps we can take out the Invictus without diverting our fighters from the main assault." Obi-Wan fidgeted his fingers in his beard. "The Freedom Squadron has some of the best pilots in the galaxy, the ones that do not have Skywalker as a last name, that is. And as much as I dislike flying, I am a more than decent pilot and I am most certainly willing to sacrifice my tastes in a situation as dire as this one." He made a point of looking directly at the Senator as he said that last sentence.

He continued. "If our defenses can hold and distract the Invictus for another hour or so my Freedom Squadron can sneak up on the Destroyer and deactivate its outer shields. The clone pilots won't be a problem with pilots of our caliber." Another confident smirk, again directed at the Senator. Obi-Wan avoided the nagging feeling that he was starting to act like his own Padawan. "Afterwards, our combined firepower should be enough to destroy the ship or at least damage it to the point where it does not pose any damage against our main fleet."

"You plan is a risky one, General Kenobi, for yourself and your squadron more than anything else. But it is a better alternative than the others presented here today."

"Thank you, Captain Antilles. I am humbled by your confidence."

"You will be fighting for a valiant cause, General Kenobi," reassured the Senator. "If you succeed you will have saved an entire planet."

Obi-Wan wondered if he was blushing. He shrugged off Mon Mothma's praise and replied with an air of indifference as he leaned back in his chair, "Eh, it will be nothing my Padawan hasn't done since he was nine years old."

The Freedom Squadron had been the brainchild of Anakin Skywalker, though his wife had conceived of its actual name. The premise was simple: find, recruit, and gather the best pilots of the galaxy and team them up into one invincible squadron. Of course the task was much easier said than done, but the Alliance had managed to form a pretty good team. Anakin had suggested contacting old pod-racer acquaintances of his, and the eight former racers on the squadron gave the team a startling diversity of species not seen anywhere else in the Alliance. When they took time off of their respective planets, both Anakin and Obi-Wan had come to Chandrila to train and fly with these pilots.

Obi-Wan counted over forty of them. There were some new recruits, ones that Obi-Wan did not recognize. Some of them he would never get a chance to meet considering the task they were about to partake in. Obi-Wan tried to consider his reasoning. Did he form this mission to serve the Force and the Alliance, or was it all just a sacrifice with the intention of impressing a certain Senator? It didn't matter, he told himself. The fragile Alliance Fleet faced annihilation, and this assault on the Invictus its only hope. Obi-Wan only wished that Anakin were here to fly with him.

Anakin had maintained that pilots were at their best when flying their own ships, ones that they were comfortable in. And provided that Anakin himself had a chance to check and tinker with the mechanics of each vessel, each pilot had the option of keeping or picking out their own unique fighters. As a result the hodgepodge collection of the ships in the squadron shared the diversity of their pilots. Obi-Wan preferred the Indiana Jones himself, especially knowing that on this mission he would need its 360-degree missile firing capabilities. He sat snugly in the cockpit with R2-D2 besides him and led the first combat flight of the Freedom Squadron into space.

Within minutes they were assaulted by a wave of TIA fighters, the Empire's newest prototype. The small and speedy ships were difficult to pinpoint the crosshairs on, but they had relatively low shields and one shot usually resulted in a silent explosion. Freedom-Two, i.e. Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the rest of the squadron had no problems with the first wave they encountered. Freedom-One, of course, was a moniker reserved for the only human who had ever won a pod-race.

"Freedom-2, this is Freedom-6. There are three groups of TIA's incoming from 0300, 0900, and 1700."

Obi-Wan observed the radar. "Copy that, Freedom-6. We're going to have to split up. Two through ten, we'll stay our course towards the Invictus. Eleven through nineteen, I want you to jump ahead of us and intercept the first enemy offensive. Twenty through thirty-one, stay back and above two through ten and give us cover against the main enemy offensive. Thirty-two through forty-eight, I want you to fly ahead and evade, I repeat, evade the third enemy squadron. Lure them away and strike ahead behind enemy lines to checkpoint five and weaken their defenses. Hopefully we'll all rendezvous there."

Obi-Wan's team cut their way through a line of TIA's. The Indiana Jones auto-targeting and rapid-fire system allowed the Jedi Master and his droid to take out multiple enemy fighters within extremely short intervals of seconds. Its flexibility allowed R2 to swerve and sway the craft in unimaginable angles to avoid being hit. Obi-Wan was thankful for his droid's expert maneuvers, but his stomach was starting to creep up his throat as a result of them. Calm yourself, Obi-Wan. Anakin won't let a little thing called nausea affect him in a dogfight.

With a new determined resolve Obi-Wan plunged even deeper into the enemy lines, drawing a path of destruction through the swarm of Imperial fighters.

"Thank the Force for this ship R2."

A whistle from the droid.

"Don't mind the shields for now. We've got to take out as many of these guys as possible." Artoo beeped a concerned reply. "No, I don't think we're straying too far from the Squadron. I'm the leader, remember? I've got a responsibility to take point." He switched on his intercom. "Freedom squad, check in with progress please." He sounded like a general now, he thought. Tough, full of bravado, in command. Worthy of respect from any female Chandrilian Senators. I'll show Anakin who's the ladies' man!

"Freedom-2, this is Freedom 25. We have successfully engaged the enemy and have eliminated any possibilities of an assault from the rear flanks."

"Thanks, Mowa. I copy that."

"Freedom-2, this is Freedom 37. We have reached checkpoint five and evaded the pursuit of the TIA's."

"Copy that." Obi-Wan was slightly concerned though. Where did that enemy squadron wander off to?

"Freedom-2, this is Freedom 12," came a frantic transmission. The enemy is overwhelming us. They are arriving in staggering numbers…" The transmission was cut off.

Poodoo. The enemy Freedom 37 was supposed to lure away had not taken then bait and was now cutting the Freedom Squadron off from one another. "Oh well," he said to R2. "Nothing we can't handle. It's still the same number of them as before, right?" Click. Whistle. Beep. "This'll just take longer than expected."

The ship suddenly shook and the emergency lights flashed on. Artoo uttered a series of desperate noises. "The shields are gone? Crap!" Obi-Wan took over the controls to pilot the Indiana Jones to a relatively safer location so that R2 could try to restore the shields. There were still TIA's approaching him from all directions though. No problem.

"Artoo, lock fire on 1535 and 0433 and fire." Nothing. Artoo gave a despairing wail. "What do you mean the missile compartment is jammed?" Beep. "You can't do anything about it?"

MORE TIME IS NEEDED, replied the astromech translator. Obi-Wan noted that the TIA's certainly were not intent on giving them more time.

"Oh, I've got a bad feeling about this."

Ok, the story is slowly winding down, and the sequels are approaching. I have come up with tentative names for them and am curious to know what you think. The sequel immediately after this one would be called "Age of the Empire" and the one following that would be "The Will of the Chosen One." Thanks!

PS. Thank you Rev for your review. I am truly flattered beyond words to know that you enjoy my story, as I absolutely love all the stories you have written. Keep up the good work!