Prologue
The stars glittered like silver lights on a dark sky. A small silver Coruscant starship, known as one of those the Jedi owned, sped out of hyperspace to pause in front of a small desert planet in the Outer Rim.
"Do we know the coordinates?" Anakin Skywalker, a well known Jedi Knight asked as he piloted the starship with ease and glanced over at his former Master.
Obi Wan Kenobi, a member of the Jedi Council, looked across at Anakin as he fumbled with the controls.
"Surely you would know, Anakin, the Jedi Council has explained to us about the objectives on this mission and the coordinates were one of them." Obi Wan answered, clearly not happy with how Anakin did not remember what they had discussed at the Temple.
Behind the two Jedi sat two young Padawans, waiting patiently as their Masters handled the situation.
Remla sat behind her Master Anakin, wearing small black Jedi robes similar to Anakin's. Her blonde Padawan braid nestled amongst her blonde hair and it was brushed aside as she turned to face her Padawan friend.
Taffo, Remla's best friend, watched as her Master Obi Wan fumbled with the ships controls and managed to bring up a display panel with the coordinates of the destination.
"This is going to be fun!" Remla smiled, fumbling with her lightsaber hilt as she tried to secure it on her belt. Remla had a blue lightsaber that Anakin had given to her and had never used it before, but she was hoping she could use it on this mission. Remla and Taffo were on their first mission as Padawans with their newly acquired Masters.
"Yea and this starship is one of the nicest Coruscant fighters I've seen." Taffo smiled. Her black hair was tied up and her Padawan braid swung as she bent down to adjust her cream coloured Jedi robes, the same as her Master's. "This is our first mission, Remla, so let's make it a good one."
"We are entering Tatooine now." Obi Wan announced as Anakin piloted the starship into Tatooine's atmosphere.
Remla stared down at the planet and it was quite different from what she had expected. Everywhere Remla looked there was sand, sand and more sand. There were no buildings or houses, just sand. It was completely different from Coruscant. It seemed almost remote and deserted.
"Is this all it is? It looks so abandoned and harmless." Remla asked as she stared out at the endless sand dunes that stretched on as far as she could see.
"Yes, it may look harmless, but it has its dangers." Master Anakin told Remla in a warning tone. Remla went quiet. Anakin had lived on Tatooine for nine years as a child before he became a Jedi; he really knew what the planet was like. Remla decided to listen to her Master.
"Sorry Master." Remla apologized quietly. Anakin was younger than Obi Wan and he was a Jedi Knight, not a Jedi Master, and Remla was his first Padawan, so he did not know how to handle a Padawan as well as Obi Wan. Obi Wan had been Anakin's Master once and now he was Taffo's.
"Remla, I told you to not speak badly of Tatooine, it will anger your Master, and this was his home you know." Taffo whispered to Remla. "And his mum died here too."
Remla nodded and stayed quiet. Anakin's mother, Shmi, had died from being captured by Tusken Raiders and Anakin didn't save her in time. Remla didn't like to hear about it and Taffo didn't like mentioning it.
Anakin piloted the starship down onto sand in front of a building made of stone. The Padawans waited as the ship landed safely and their Masters got out of their seats and moved down the landing ramp into Tatooine.
"This will be a new experience! Our first mission!" Taffo grinned as she got up and went over to the landing ramp. Remla followed and together they stepped onto the sand and felt the heat immediately. It was like being thrown into an oven and Remla coughed as the wind blew sand into the air and her feet sunk into the sand until it reached her ankles.
"This planet is really hot." Taffo coughed as more sand blew around the two of them. "I can't stand the sand. It's good I have my glasses on to protect my eyes."
Remla squinted as the hard sand blew into her eyes, blinking against the light of the suns. There was more than one sun?
"Look at the suns!" Remla stared up at the two suns in the sky. Two suns?! That was why it was so hot here.
"Wow, this planet is interesting." Taffo smiled as they followed their Masters into the house. There were strange pole like structures protruding from the ground around them.
"What are those?" Remla asked, pointing at them. Everything in this planet was new to both of them, since they had lived all their life in Coruscant.
"They are moisture vaporators; they retrieve the water vapour from the air and are then used on crops or sold." Taffo explained as they walked down some steps and into the building. She knew of them from reading the many books at the Council Archives. Remla nodded, impressed by her fellow Padawan's knowledge.
The building was a small domelike structure and it was completely empty inside. There were no other rooms, just a bare stone floor.
"This is not normal." Obi Wan said quietly, searching the small building. "There is only one room here, and if this is to be a house there would be beds and a cooking area."
"Maybe it's not a house." Remla piped up.
"Something is wrong here." Anakin warned. Remla could feel it too, a huge ripple in the Force when they had entered the building.
Taffo stepped forward and stood on a crumbly part of the floor. There was a sound of breaking stone and Taffo cried out as she fell through the floor, dust and pieces of stone falling inwards as the floor caved in.
"Taffo!" Remla cried, running over to the middle of the room and looking down to see if Taffo was safe.
"The floor wasn't sealed properly." Anakin said, coughing from the dust. "It could have collapsed easily."
"Almost like someone had resealed this part of the floor, concealing something." Obi Wan murmured, then shouted down at Taffo. "Padawan, what is down there?"
Remla could hear Taffo coughing from the dust as she stood up and checked her surroundings.
"Well, it's definitely not a house, because this is what it was concealing; there are sacks of something that looks like powder down here!" Taffo called up to her concerned Master, and Remla could tell she was excited that she had found something.
Obi Wan tried to distinguish what was in the room, and then decided to jump down. Anakin followed and Remla decided to stay back and watch what was happening.
"I can feel something in the Force." Obi Wan affirmed, his voice echoing in the room. "There has to be something in those sacks."
Remla decided to jump down and see what they had all been sent by the Council to find. She took a deep breath and jumped down. She landed hard on a dusty stone floor, looking around to see Taffo walking over to her. The room was bigger than the one above and it was completely empty apart from sacks stacked in a corner. It was also a lot cooler and moist, Remla hoped they wouldn't have to leave so soon and go back into the intense heat outside.
"There's nothing in here, just flour sacks." Taffo said quietly. Remla could tell she was disappointed that they hadn't found anything. But then, the Council had told them that they had sensed a disturbance in the Force after one of the Dark Jedi had been seen stealing something important from some kind of Temple, and hiding it away here on Tatooine.
"These are bags of flour?" Obi Wan said, picking up a sack of flour, the writing had faded and the plastic around it was scratched and damaged from all the years it had been hidden underneath the moisture farm. Taffo could see the words 'Flour' printed on them.
"Flour?" Remla asked. Why would there be flour hidden underneath a building? It was nothing important at all.
"They look old." Taffo pointed out. She could see that the flour had been hidden underground for quite some time, and was starting to wonder if it was actually flour in the bags.
"Appearances can be deceiving." Obi Wan said quietly, feeling the bag he had picked up. Anakin was studying the room and the two Padawans stood underneath the collapsed floor where they entered, waiting for something to happen.
"Do you think your Master is right?" Remla whispered to Taffo.
"He knows many things, Remla, and I am proud he is my Master." Taffo smiled, and then frowned at the bag Obi Wan was holding. "It's not flour in those bags; I knew I had found something!"
Remla could see chunks form through the bag, and whatever was in it was hard and small, and was definitely not flour. The substance inside was making a ripple in the Force, and the four of them knew there had to be a good reason for whatever it was in the bags to be hidden underground. It could be the important things the Dark Jedi had stolen.
Both Padawans watched as Obi Wan ripped open the sack.