JEDI KNIGHT ANAKIN SKYWALKER (M)

Young Skywalker walked briskly through the wide corridors of the Jedi Temple, where he had not set foot since his elevation to the Knighthood a short time before, following the clashes on Geonosis after Obi-Wan’s capture and his attempt to rescue him, while remaining faithful to the Jedi Council’s orders to protect Senator Amidala.

He was grateful to his Master for allowing him to prove himself before the Jedi Council and finally attain the coveted rank of Knight, which had led to Kenobi himself ascending to the title of Master and being able to aspire to a seat on the Jedi Council. Both men had distinguished themselves for their bravery and innovative tactics in defeating the various drone armies they had to face during their missions during their first clashes with the Separatists, to such an extent that Obi-Wan himself had been elevated to the rank of Jedi High General before he had even achieved the rank of Master.

Immediately after the Battle of Geonosis, Skywalker had asked and received permission to escort Senator Amidala to Naboo, despite the fact that the threat to her life had been thwarted once and for all and there was no longer any need for an escort, particularly one given by highly trained Jedi Knights.

Upon arriving on the planet, Padmé had agreed to marry the boy despite his membership of the Order and all the doubts she had harboured in the days and weeks leading up to their death sentence on Geonosis, precisely in relation to the Order’s own strict rules regarding its members.

The young Knight, however, had decided to keep the secret, especially from Kenobi, who certainly would not have appreciated such a major deviation from the Codex on the part of the newly appointed Jedi, who risked immediate expulsion from the Order as a consequence.

The clashes against the Separatists, which had given the start and substance to what would go down in history as the Clone Wars, had forced the two newlyweds to stay apart even for fairly long stretches of time, with the Jedi very often employed on the front lines at the request of the Council or the Chancellor of the Republic.

Anakin was not alone: at his side, strutting and wearing a blue-painted helmet under his left arm, walked martially CT-7567, known to all as Rex, a Captain of the 501st Battalion and second-in-command of the Jedi, who held the rank of General in the Galactic Army. A little further on, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was talking with Commander Cody (whose original designation was CC-2224) of the 7th Sky Corps (of which Kenobi was in command, as High General) about one of the recent missions they had taken part in.

Both were great strategists, Skywalker acknowledged, but he realised how impatient he was with the more diplomatic line held by his former Master – whose hand-to-hand combat skills were not to be underestimated – and his trusted right-hand man: he and Rex, on the other hand, were more likely to act first and ask questions later.

You are a Jedi Knight, Skywalker scolded himself, it is your duty to maintain the balance of peace in the Galaxy, even if that means thinking and being diplomatic before you act. Obi-Wan is one of our finest diplomats, I was fortunate to be trained by him.

But, within himself, he felt growing apprehension about the war that was being fought and in which the Jedi Order had found itself embroiled despite itself: what would happen if the fighting continued? On this question he knew he was rather conflicted, despite all the effort and hours of meditation he could afford to devote to it, and despite the fact that he knew he was more suited to such a situation than to a pacified Galaxy.