How ironic that we should discover this power now, when the Jedi are no more, Obi-Wan thought. Then he looked at Yoda. The Jedi were not gone. Not yet. He heard the thin, high wail of an infant echoing down the hall, and almost smiled. There was still hope for the future.
Senator Padmé Amidala was given a state funeral. Huge crowds lined the streets to pay their respects to their former Queen as the flower-draped open coffin rolled past. She was wearing the carved japor snippet her beloved Anakin had given her so long ago, when he was nine and she fourteen and war was unthinkable, and the Sith Lords a bad dream.
Obi-Wan and Yoda watched the funeral from Bail Organa’s starcruiser. It was as close as they dared come. The Emperor’s attention would surely be fixed on the funeral, and they would not take the risk of being found.
Shortly after, the Emperor took his new apprentice off to a remote area of the galaxy where construction of a new superweapon was just beginning—a gigantic space station with the power to destroy whole planets with a single laser blast.
Once the funeral was over, Bail Organa set his cruiser on a carefully planned course to Alderaan. Shortly after the ship left Naboo, it flung two small escape pods in opposite directions along the Outer Rim. One carried Jedi Master Yoda toward the uninviting and uninhabited swamp planet of Dagobah; the other carried Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and a wailing infant boy in the direction of Tatooine. The girl, as planned, went on to Alderaan, to be raised as a princess by Bail Organa and his wife, the queen of Alderaan. She was joined by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.
When he reached Tatooine, Obi-Wan sold the escape pod for spare parts. In the crime-ridden city of Mos Eisley, the pod would be untraceable within hours. With the credits from the sale, Obi-Wan bought an eopie riding beast for the trek out to the small moisture farm where Anakin’s stepbrother, Owen Lars, still lived. Owen and his wife Beru agreed to raise their nephew. Obi-Wan told them only that the boy’s parents were both dead; he did not give any details of how Anakin and Padmé had died.
As the twin suns began to set, Obi-Wan rode into the Tatooine desert. In his pack, he carried Anakin’s lightsaber. He would keep it, through the long, lonely exile, as a memento and a reminder—until the future day when he could give it to Anakin’s son, Luke Skywalker.
More Star Wars eBooks from Disney • Lucasfilm Press
MAY 2014
Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Prequel Trilogy: 3 books in 1
Star Wars: Classic Trilogy: 3 books in 1
Star Wars: The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi
Star Wars: A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker
Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul
Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
Lives and Adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, and Darth Vader: 4 books in 1
JUNE 2014
Star Wars: Rebel Force
Hostage
Renegade
Firefight
Trapped
Uprising
JULY 2014
Star Wars: Jedi Quest
The Way of the Apprentice
The Trail of the Jedi
The Dangerous Games
The Master of Disguise
The Shadow Trap
The Changing of the Guard
The Moment of Truth
The False Peace
The Final Showdown
Coming August 2014: Star Wars Rebels eBooks!