It has been five months since the Jedi accepted a mission from the New Republic Senate to track down the missing Ekash weapons scientist Dr Rivea Colash. Dr Colash's daughter, Emalda, aids them in their search and has volunteered the use of her ship. The trail has led them outside of New Republic space, to the newly settled world of Wefhuk…

Anakin was standing on the planet of Tattooine, the planet of his childhood. The winds were whipping the desert sands into a monstrous storm, which moved with a life of its own. The sand battered him in waves, but it didn't sting his skin as sharply as he remembered. With his hood up and his eyes half-open, he could see little as he shuffled across the desert. The wind shifted and through the haze an indistinct shape appeared on the horizon. As he walked towards it the shape solidified into a squat, weathered moisture farm. A line of stone stairs led down to a sheltered entranceway, below the level of the desert sands. Anakin walked down the steps, letting his hood fall back as the entranceway blocked the worst of the wind. The door slid open at his approach. Anakin considered this proof that he was dreaming, because nobody who had sand people for neighbours ever left their doors unlocked. He crossed the threshold tentatively and the door slid shut behind him. He walked on down the corridor, the noise of the storm outside muffled by the walls. Anakin couldn't hear the roar of the sand beating on the walls or the wind whistling across the roof. It was dead silent inside the farm.

Somebody started laughing, the sound bouncing and echoing around the small building. Anakin walked faster as he recognised the high, tinkling laughter of a woman. The corridor ended abruptly and Anakin stumbled ungracefully down the step into the living area. A woman stood in the centre of the wide room with her back to him. Her dark hair curled and cascaded down her back, contrasting sharply with her soft, white tunic. She was cradling a baby in her arms and singing softly. A moment of thought and Anakin recognized it as a Naboo lullaby.
"Padme?"
The woman raised her head and turned to look at him. For a moment, he thought he was right and that he had been reunited with the woman he hadn't seen since he was nine years old. Then he recognized that it was Leia's face that was watching him with an indulgent smile. Anakin tried not to look too disappointed but Leia must have seen because she sighed and shook her head at him. She looked down at the baby in her arms and turned away from him again.
"Where are we?" Anakin asked her.

Leia turned back to him but it wasn't Leia anymore. It was Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker. She clasped her hands together in welcome, the baby gone. She crossed the floor towards him, long skirts sweeping the carpet. She looked younger than he remembered - radiant. Echoing Leia's indulgent smile, his mother raised a hand to touch his cheek. Her touch was cold and dusty. Anakin had to look again at her hands to reassure himself that there was still flesh on them.
"You don't need to be here, Ani," she said, her rich accent flowing over him. "You're needed elsewhere."
Anakin just stared at her, trying not to flinch as her stale hand stroked his brow.
"My handsome boy..." she whispered.
She seemed to catch herself and pulled her hand back abruptly. She gazed at him intently, trying to memorize his facial features. Then she smiled, satisfied, and walked out of the living area.

Anakin raised his own hand to his cheek, relieved to feel the warmth of his own fingers. He looked around the living area, noting for the first time the scorch marks on the pale white walls. Tables were over-turned, chairs broken and ornaments had been swept from a tabletop to the ground. The room was full of signs of violence that had - or would - happen in this home.
"Ani, are you in there?" called a new voice.
This was not the voice of a woman but the voice of a young man. The echo of the corridor garbled it but Anakin could already recognise this particular presence. It was Obi-Wan Kenobi, the young twenty year old Jedi Apprentice that Anakin had been introduced to at the tender age of nine.

Anakin walked out of the living area, wondering bemusedly where his mother had gone to. He found Obi-Wan standing in the middle of the courtyard under the open sky, a Padawan braid resting lightly on his shoulder. The desert storm had stopped and the stars twinkled at them from above. Anakin had not seen Tattooine's skies since he was a boy but the constellations were all achingly familiar. Anakin tore his gaze away from the night sky to look at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan's normally serious face was upturned to the night sky as well. He glanced to Anakin with his eyes and smiled, his eyes shining with a joy that had become less and less common when he had achieved knighthood.
"Beautiful night, Ani," said Obi-Wan, breathless in his honesty.
"Beyond compare," agreed Anakin, though he was more interested in studying his fellow Padawan.
Obi-Wan frowned, tilting his head as if listening. He looked at Anakin, curiously.
"Ani, do you sense that? A vague... sense of danger?"

Anakin closed his eyes and felt his awareness of the Force surge to the front of his mind. He felt it in his bones and imagined it as a thousand splintered colours in his mind's eye. He sensed the vibrant, living Force presence of Obi-Wan. Anakin knew that the Force could not be seen but it pleased him to visualise Obi-Wan as a pulsing blue spirit. He could sense the dull, nebulous background of the planet's own energy but nothing else - not a single living thing. When Anakin opened his eyes again, Obi-Wan was backing away from him warily. His eyes were locked on Anakin and his entire body was tensed for a fight.
"It's behind you," said Obi-Wan, his voice tight and his accent crisp.
Anakin turned but there was nothing there. Obi-Wan was still backing away but had already reached the other side of the courtyard. The fear on Obi-Wan's face had faded to be replaced by a neutral mask but Anakin could see a flicker of deep concentration in those blue eyes.
"There is darkness there," Obi-Wan whispered, frozen in place on the other side of the courtyard.
The stars above them seemed to dim, deepening the shadows. Anakin shook his head to clear it.
"It's no darker over here than it is where you are," said Anakin lightly.

He had seen moisture farms at night and it wasn't quite enough to scare him. Anakin's breath puffed out as frosty mist and he couldn't remember it getting so cold.
"Where I am?" Obi-Wan asked, his eyes widening in horror.
Obi-Wan turned slowly to gaze around him as if he expected the sand-floor to rise up and swallow him. His gaze locked on the darkened speeder bay entrance behind him. Anakin watched as a shadow detached itself from the darkness and walked towards Obi-Wan. The sound of heavy breathing reached Anakin's ears - a heavy, slow passage of air through machinery. As the indistinct black shape moved, it fluttered at the edges as if buffeted by an invisible wind. As it continued to approach Obi-Wan, Anakin found that he couldn't move.
"Obi, move. Get out of here!"
Anakin tried to shout but all that came out was a hoarse whisper.

Regardless, Obi-Wan seemed to hear him. Obi-Wan turned to look at Anakin helplessly, giving the shadow time to move closer. Obi-Wan turned back to the shadow just as it stopped directly in front of him, breathing and heaving. There was the distinctive snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting. A cruel, bright red blade crackled angrily in the night air. It illuminated the face of Qui-Gon Jinn, his features hollowed and ghoulish. As the stars darkened completely, Anakin watched the blade swing through the air towards Obi-Wan's body.

Anakin managed to propel himself forward, a cry of denial on his lips - when he hit the cold floor. Anakin pried one eye open and looked around. He was still in the Fahren's crowded little sleeping cabin. A tussled head popped over the edge of the nearest bunk, blinking sleepily.
"Are you all right, Ani?"
"Fine, Obi. Just a bad dream."
Obi-Wan blinked, grunted, and rolled over. Within seconds his breathing had evened out into sleep. Anakin stayed where he was, looking up at his own bunk and wondering why his mind liked to taunt him in his sleep.