Prologue

Circa 3800 years before the rise of the Empire.

It is a time of peace, all is well with the galaxy; darkness is all but forgotten. The machine of the Republic continues its eternal workings, its countless billions of lives driving it ever onwards, its numberless worlds continuing their dance through the cosmos, even to its most remote ends.

A flicker of light disturbs the blackness as a vessel re-enters real space, a rare occurrence indeed in this forgotten place. The vessel is small, larger than a fighter and with enough room for a limited crew, but small and sleek, clearly built for speed. Its design is old but it appears impeccably maintained as it gracefully enters orbit around the lonely planet it has come to visit.

Through the view-port the planet grows, its red-ochre desert glow casting a gentle light over the two women in the cockpit.

One of the women is old; brushing her long silver hair behind an ear as she deftly begins a final approach to the surface. The other woman is not old, she is ancient, although her hair retains just a glimpse of the auburn it once was.

They glance at each other as the vessel gently touches down, a warm smile spreads across their faces and there is an air of serenity between them. Their is strength there too, it is unmistakeable in their eyes, eyes which have born witness to many great and many terrible things, eyes that are a mirror image of each other.

"Do not be sad," the ancient woman speaks, "My journey is only just beginning."

"I am not sad," her younger companion replies, "All things pass, it is how it should be, and I am prepared to let go when I must."

The ancient woman stands and makes her way to the egress hatch, her grace and lightness of foot defying her great age, it is clear she was once beautiful. At the base of the ramp the younger woman hands her a small carved wooden box. "You'll be needing this," she says. The ancient woman smiles. "I am very proud of you my daughter, now go with my love, and may the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you." Mother and daughter embrace. "It will be – forever, as will I be with you." With that she turns, moving towards what remains of a small abandoned settlement, just an empty shell now. She enters without watching the vessel leave. She is alone.

Kneeling on the bare floor of the empty room she opens the box she has brought so that she might hold the objects within one more time. The familiar cool metal hand-grip that has remained unused for half a century and the fragile crystal lattice that has been her focus for that same time. "I am here my love," she says aloud. "It was you who started me on my journey and I have seen many things in that time. I have been part of great events, I have made mistakes, and I have even loved others. But you I loved first and to you I come now."

She places the box in a small hidden compartment in the floor of the room, then kneels once more and closes her eyes. "Andur my love, I am ready." With that Nomi Sunrider, greatest Jedi of her age begins her journey anew.

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Every journey begins with a first step. It is only on looking back that we can tell when that step was.

Chapter 1

Planet Tatooine, ten years after the formation of the Empire.

The twin suns had almost reached their zenith, the hottest part of the day, and on a desert world that meant hot. In the case of this planet, with two fiery balls of gas radiating heat nearby, that meant unbearably hot. This part of the desert was mainly comprised of rocky formations rather than rolling dunes, which at least offered some shaded areas, such as those were.

A small caravan of travellers was parading as best they could through this harsh landscape. Mainly vehicles of various shapes and sizes interspersed with pack animals at several points. One such animal was a little way out to the front of the procession, it and its rider being followed by the rest.

Given the choice of travel methods between a machine and a living creature Obi-Wan Kenobi could decide in a heartbeat. There was something just correct and much more civilised about a living, breathing mount. Even if it meant getting past the noise and the smell, and the flies, and the smell, and the bumpy ride, oh, and the smell. Once you got past that, it was far superior in every way. It certainly was in Obi-Wan's opinion anyway. Perhaps I'm just a traditionalist, he mused. I'm quite sure I should have been born in another time and place altogether. Journeys such as this one, which had lasted several hours so far, offered ideal opportunities for such pondering. The gentle rhythm and sway of his Eopee allowing the mind to follow all sorts of curious paths and arrive at equally curious destinations.

Obi-Wan was suddenly roused from his thoughts by a very unhealthy sounding clunking noise accompanied shortly by an equally unhealthy black cloud of smoke that had quickly overtaken him and his mount. "That reminds me my young friend," Obi-Wan said wearily to the beast." "Living transportation does not break down either." The Eopee honked an affirmative.

Obi-Wan dismounted and headed back to ascertain the situation. It was as bad as he had first thought. The largest and oldest transport, the one with most of the gear on board, had suffered total repulsor failure, and was going to take hours to repair. Fortunately they were almost at the area to which Obi-Wan had been leading the convoy, and once he had made the relevant people aware of this, a makeshift camp quickly began to spring up.

Obi-Wan located his small shelter, supplied by the Mos Ore Conglomerate, a very glamorous sounding, but equally unglamorous in reality, mining company funding this expedition. Removing the small plasteel cases from his Eopee he set about locating food and water for the beast, before finding a safe spot to tether it. There were plenty of hours left in the day and Obi-Wan had no desire to stretch this out any longer than he had to. No time like the present, he thought, and set to work.

Finding a spot about one hundred paces from the camp Obi-Wan unpacked and set up his limited equipment. The plasteel cases contained a tripod mounted range finder, a magnetic field detector connected to a flat receiver that lay on the ground. These both fed into a control unit with a data readout. It was a collection of lights, wires, displays, sensors and complicated sounding noises. It looked very impressive, and Obi-Wan needed absolutely none of it. He chuckled to himself, "If Yoda could see me now," although deep down he knew his old mentor probably could. I'm sure he would approve, he thought. "To all situations a Jedi must be prepared to adapt," Obi-Wan said aloud in his best Yoda voice.

He had certainly had to adapt to this new life. A little over a decade ago Obi-Wan had arrived on Tatooine with the most important thing he had ever had in his field of responsibility, which is quite a statement for a Jedi Master and veteran of many military campaigns. Put plainly his mission was the protection of a tiny, most important, life; Anakin's son.

Having found a safe place for the child, one far away from prying eyes but one he could monitor as necessary, Obi-Wan then had to take care of himself and settle in for the long haul. But just what does an out of work Jedi do to earn a living in the back of beyond, especially as it was soon apparent his former profession was now highly illegal. He could hardly broadcast his abilities, imagine:

NEED SOMETHING MOVING?

NO JOB TOO BIG – we have telekinesis!

JUST CALL 555 OBI

Or:

NEED PROTECTION FROM LOW LIFE SCUM?

KENOBI'S YOUR MAN

Ps – I specialise in Sith Lords!

No, there had to be a way he could get by without drawing much attention to himself and ideally leaving him time to focus on his real mission.

As it turned out Obi-Wan should have known better; the Force showed him the way. After briefly renting accommodation in Mos Eisley using rapidly dwindling resources he had in various emergency accounts, the time came to look for a permanent base. This turned out to be a simple, isolated, run-down structure just beyond the edge of the Dune Sea. It was cheap, unwanted and Obi-Wan would enjoy fixing it up, more over it was close to the child's location.

Obi-Wan began renovations, the first and most important of which on a desert world would be a water supply. The structure had its own disused vaporator that became project number one. Frustratingly project number one stayed just that despite Obi-Wan's best efforts. He just wasn't mechanically inclined enough. Anakin would have loved this, he thought, he could fix anything. Deciding on one last attempt Obi-Wan began to meditate, allowing the Force to guide him to the appropriate course of action. He was focussed on water and was suddenly acutely aware of water, lots of water, nearby. Impossible, the planet was dry; the only moisture available had to be sucked drop by drop from the atmosphere by complex machines. The Force however was telling him a different story, and it was drawing his focus down. "By the stars, of course," Obi-Wan blurted. "Ground water." Even on this world there had to be some sources, they were just notoriously difficult to locate. There were even legends that told of them as part of the local traditions. Water was, after all, in a desert climate, treasure indeed. Obi-Wan just happened to have one such source on his doorstep, one which should be relatively easy to access, and so it transpired.

With his new found knowledge of what to look for Obi-Wan began one or two cursory investigations and sure enough from time to time he would locate a small water source buried deep in the bedrock. An idea had begun to blossom. Introducing himself to the local population of moisture farmers under the pretence of upgrading their vaporators, he slowly spun the idea of locating accessible water sources through the process of dousing, an archaic method he had once read about in the Jedi Archives. At first most scoffed at him, but it only took one or two successes before he was a hit. Obi-Wan certainly did not seek recognition, so was careful to work with only a select few groups of farmers. However, he did come to the attention of one larger producer, who hired him exclusively as a prospector.

During this period he had adopted his new identity of Ben, and working with one smallish company kept him off the radar, although he had acquired a somewhat mystical reputation among the locals, who if not afraid of him, were wary of his strange methods. This suited Obi-Wan just fine, allowing him to maintain his distance.

Although he was secure now, with a steady, reasonable income and a safe base of operations, Obi-Wan was still troubled on two fronts. Firstly, having an employer meant time restrictions which often interfered with his primary objective of safeguarding the child. This was unacceptable! Fortunately the Force once again provided the answer.

Whilst out prospecting Obi-Wan sensed something different in the bedrock. This turned out to be a small mineral seem, nothing major, but it was something he became able to recognise as a unique pattern in the Force. A career change quickly followed, and Obi-Wan was now an independent geological surveyor, working for whom he chose, but more important, as and when he chose. Most of the time he would inform local mining companies, selling his information to the highest bidder. After a while they tried to copy the machinery he used, but to no effect, and they would always come back to him. The deposits he located were never large, Tatooine had been all but exhausted of mineral wealth over the millennia, but they were large enough to attract local business, without attracting mega-credit off-world interests. Again, this suited Obi-Wan just fine.

The second troublesome area was more one of ethics. Obi-Wan had been a Jedi his whole life, a life dedicated to the service of others, he knew no other way. Yet here he was using his abilities for profit and personal gain. Although his possessions were still limited, he was now a fairly wealthy individual, and somehow it just felt wrong. Using the Force for personal gain led to the dark side, how many times had he heard that? How many times had he said that? Eventually after much soul searching and meditation, and in order to preserve his sanity, Obi-Wan reached a conclusion. He was now a Jedi only in the context of his personal values. The title was meaningless, there were no rules or codes to follow, only his own will and that of the Force. Obi-Wan chastised himself for his attachment, he had to let his old life go, and so, just like that, he did.

He now had but one purpose clear in his mind, he knew what his destiny must be, and he must do all in his power, save harming others, to ensure that destiny. Obi-Wan Kenobi was the pivot point that would allow the continuation of the ways of the light side of the Force, and its battle against the dark side. If he failed, evil would triumph. Simple really! No pressure there then, Obi-Wan thought.

The approach of one of the mining executives roused him from his reminiscences. Back to work, he thought, preparing to slip back into his Ben character. "I sure hope this goddam trek into the middle of nowhere was worth it," said the short, balding mining exec'. He clearly wanted to be here just as much as Obi-Wan. "Have I ever been wrong yet Kerrell?" Obi-Wan retorted whilst playing with some readouts just for effect. "No, and I hope I'm not the one payin' for it when you are!" Obi-Wan's machine beeped. "Well, well, what could that possibly mean?" he said with a sarcastic grin. "Let's take a look shall we?" Whilst pretending to look at his display Obi-Wan allowed the Force to guide him to the now familiar patterns created by the mineral seems beneath the surface, in this case some carbon deposits interspersed with some small pockets of various metal ores. He relayed this information to Kerrell, along with coordinates and depth measurements, and then switched off his box of tricks. Offering his hand to the shorter man, he informed him that he would be leaving at first light. There was someone he hadn't spoken to in a while, and it was about time they caught up.

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