For Frank Thorne my favorite wizard and everyone who ever wanted a real lightsaber
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It would be impossible to compile the adventures of Obi Wan Kenobi in a single volume especially because many adventures have yet to be written But for readers who hanker to read more about Obi Wan I highly recommend recommend the Star Wars serial novels Jedi Apprentice Jedi Quest and Last of the Jedi all written by Jude Watson While this novel introduces new details about Obi Wan Kenobi it also draws from various previously published Star Wars stories including The Star Wars Radio Dramatization by Brian Daley the novel Star Wars Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry the novel Star Wars Dark Lord The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno the comic book Star Wars Legacy 16 by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema the comic book story Luke Skywalker's Walkabout by Phil Norwood and the novel Star Wars Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn I am indebted to all these talented writers as well as to the screenwriters of the Star Wars films George Lucas Lawrence Kasdan Leigh Brackett and Jonathan Hales Enormous thanks also to Annmarie Nye at Scholastic and to J.W. Rinzler and Leland Chee at Lucasfilm for their collective support and always valued input
PROLOGUE Luke Skywalker was surprised to see the moisture vaporator standing beside Ben Kenobi's abandoned hut on Tatooine Given that over three years had transpired since Ben left the desert planet Luke had assumed the vaporator would be long gone scavenged by the Jawas or Sand People Incredibly both the vaporator and Ben's hut appeared to be in good shape The sun bleached dwelling hugged a remote stony bluff in the Jundland Wastes with a sweeping view of the Western Dune Sea Luke had landed his X wing starfighter nearby and was eager to get out from under Tatooine's blazing twin suns But as he trudged across the rocky ground and drew closer to the plasteel door that was the entrance to Kenobi's hut he sensed a strange tension in the air It reminded him of the disturbing disturbing sensation he had felt on Dagobah at the cave that was so strong with the dark side of the Force But while that cave had radiated cold and death and seemed
to challenge and beckon Luke to enter this was an entirely different feeling as if the entire property were saying Go away However Luke also sensed that the message was not for him He wondered if Ben had used the Force to protect his home and figured he'd find out soon enough The plasteel door was unlocked Luke slid it open and stepped inside The air was musty but the shadowy interior offered at least some relief from the heat Looking around at the various relics that rested on small tables and shelves and the animal pelts stretched out on the semicircular couch that had also served as Ben's bed Luke couldn't see that anything had been damaged or stolen The only obvious evidence of Ben's absence was the thin dusting of sand that covered everything Luke moved down into the small living area where he found a vacuum seal chest on the floor beside a structural structural column It was from this chest that Ben had extracted Luke's first lightsaber the same lightsaber that Ben claimed had previously belonged to Luke's father Luke brushed the sand from the chest's lid then lifted it and looked inside It was empty Luke sighed He hadn't expected the chest to contain contain a second lightsaber but he had hoped to find something useful If not a datatape or holographic
