"The One Below remains below," Obi-Wan murmured.

"Do you know what that means?"

Obi-Wan didn't answer. "Yoda should hear about this."

"Hear about what, I wonder," Yoda called, heading toward them and leaning on his gimer stick. "To find you, I come, Obi-Wan. Expecting a problem, I was not."

Obi-Wan smiled as he rose. "Not a problem. A vision has been troubling Anakin."

"A vision, you say?" Yoda swiveled to fix Anakin with a curious look.

He settled himself on a rock and rested his hands on top of his stick, his posture for listening.

Once again, Anakin related the vision, leaving out his feelings about it. He knew that Yoda would want to know only the details.

Strangely, Yoda repeated the same thing that Obi-Wan had. "The One Below remains below," he murmured.

"Do you know who that is, Master Yoda?" Anakin asked.

Yoda nodded slowly. "Know her well, I do. Master Yaddle, it is."

"Master Yaddle was imprisoned for centuries on the world of Koda,"

Obi-Wan explained. "The Kodans gave her that name, The One Below."

Anakin nodded. He had known about Yaddle's long imprisonment, but he had never heard that name. Yaddle was the same species as Yoda, and sat on the Jedi Council. She was a revered Jedi Master. He was surprised that she'd been a part of his vision.

"About to leave on a mission to Mawan, she is," Yoda said. "A troubling one, I fear. Debated, we have, which Jedi team to send with her.

The answer, perhaps your vision is."

Anakin felt a rush of disappointment. He realized at that moment that he had been hoping that the vision meant he needed to travel to Tatooine.

He had imagined that he would be able to step out of his dreams and free his mother in reality. "I thought perhaps the vision meant I could somehow help the slaves on Tatooine," he said hesitantly.

Yoda and Obi-Wan both shook their heads.

"Careful you must be. Difficult to interpret, visions are," Yoda said.

"A map, a vision is not."

Anakin hid his impatience. Wasn't Yoda interpreting his vision for him, and telling him where he needed to go?

Obi-Wan sensed his confusion. "Visions of freeing slaves are not surprising," he told Anakin. "That desire rests deep within you. It is natural that it would rise up in some form. To follow a vision literally is often a mistake."

"But isn't following Yaddle also literal?" Anakin asked.

Yoda made a slight gesture with his gimer stick, an acknowledgment of Anakin's point. "A warning, the vision is." He turned to Obi-Wan. "Grave, the situation on Mawan has become."

Obi-Wan nodded. "It is a sad situation. I knew the planet when it was thriving."

"Open now, this world is," Yoda said.

"Open?" Anakin asked.

"Mawan was torn apart by a civil war ten years ago," Obi-Wan explained. "The planet was decimated by the conflict and was never able to set up a government afterward. The capital city completely lost its infrastructure — its roads deteriorated, its space lanes went unmonitored, and finally its power grid went down completely. Much of the housing was destroyed, too. A majority of the citizens were left jobless and homeless.

Many moved to the country, but a famine devastated the population there.

The absence of government, security, and hope left a void that criminal elements rushed in to fill. It's now an open world, where anything can happen without fear of the law. Criminals from throughout the galaxy have set up operations there. There is no safety for the citizens."

"Too busy, the Senate has been," Yoda said. "But ignore Mawan, they can no longer. Ripples of evil, open worlds have. Affect the galaxy, they do. Asked the Senate has for a Jedi presence to help establish a provisional government committee. To have the trust of the Mawans, a diplomat we need."

"A diplomat, yes, but also a warrior," Obi-Wan remarked. "Someone who can convince the criminal gangs that it is in their best interest to leave the planet. I can see why you chose Yaddle."

Yoda inclined his head. "Our most able diplomat, she is. Accomplished in the ways of the Force. But assistance she needs. Help her, you and your Padawan must, for important this mission is. As goes Mawan, so go other worlds. Growing in the galaxy, the dark side is."

"We are ready, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin nodded. But he felt a dread he did not understand. Even hearing the name of the planet had created a sour feeling in his stomach. Usually a mission excited him, no matter how difficult or dangerous. Yet he knew that he did not want to go to Mawan.

Chapter Two

The Republic cruiser flew low over Mawan's capital city of Naatan.

Obi-Wan leaned closer to look out the cockpit window. The power grid was being fought over by the crimelords, and had been repeatedly damaged in successive raids and takeovers. Tonight the grid was down and the city was black. It rose out of the night like a dark shadow.

He had flown into Naatan at night before. Years ago, before the war.

The city had glowed from kilometers above in space. The Mawans were fond of soft colors, which they used to filter the harsh light of their world. They used delicate rose lights to illuminate their streets and plazas at night, and from the air the city had glowed like a rare pink jewel.

He had always enjoyed his visits to Naatan. The city had been a thriving cosmopolitan center. It had been an important stop on the primary Core trade route, and the wealth of the city had spread to its parks, libraries, and schools.

As they flew lower, dipping down into an unused space lane, he could see that those parks were now black holes in the landscape, as painful as wounds. The schools were now in ruins, the libraries leveled. Obi-Wan saw broken windows, twisted gates, half-demolished cafcs. Abandoned speeders left on the street. Everywhere he looked, Obi-Wan saw desolation. It wasn't just the property, it was what the property represented — the ruin of so many lives, busy lives that had been lived in pleasant surroundings. Now those lives had been driven underground, and evil had moved into the vacuum.

"Gone underground," Euraana Fall said. "The only ones who remain are part of the criminal gangs." A native of Naatan, Euraana had the delicate, pale skin and blue veins that were prized by the Mawan. Mawans had two hearts and their blue veins lay close to their skin, a mark of beauty on the planet. Euraana's grief showed in her shimmering gray eyes, but her voice was steady. "Most of the citizens live in the infrastructure tunnels.