Mission to Andara

Within the Galactic Senate, intense disagreements and rivalries flared between Senator Berm Tarturi, representing Andara, and Sano Sauro, the Senator from Eeropha. These conflicts centered on the reallocation of trade routes, ultimately fostering deep animosity between the two. Andara held the position of the largest and most influential planet within the Andaran system, giving it a near-monopoly over the most lucrative trade routes.

By the year 25 BBY, Rana Halion had risen to power as the leader of Ieria, the second-largest planet in the Andaran system. She spearheaded the opposition against Andara's dominance, advocating for a revised treaty to rectify the imbalance in trade routes and demanding official representation within the Senate.

Adding complexity to the situation, Gillam Tarturi, the Senator's son, had been abducted. Gillam was a student at the prestigious Leadership School located on Andara. Given the school's highly advanced and sophisticated security measures, Gillam's disappearance remained a perplexing mystery. Senator Tarturi suspected that the kidnapping was a deliberate attempt to inflict personal harm upon him while simultaneously diverting his attention from his Senatorial duties. He strongly suspected Rana Halion's involvement in the incident.

In 25 BBY, the Jedi High Council dispatched Anakin Skywalker (then 16 years old) and Ferus Olin—the Padawans of Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi, respectively—on a mission to the Leadership School on Andara. Their objective was to investigate the disappearance of Gillam Tarturi, the son of the Galactic Senator Berm Tarturi. Furthermore, they were instructed to be vigilant for any information regarding a rogue group of young mercenaries believed to be using the school as a training ground and potentially connected to the missing student.

Upon their arrival at the school, situated on the outskirts of Utare, the capital city of Andara, Anakin and Ferus enrolled as transfer students under assumed identities. Both Padawans agreed to monitor a student named Reymet Autem, who appeared to possess extensive knowledge of the school's security systems. Later, Anakin was approached by a girl named Marit Dice, who informed him about the school's scholarship program. She explained that the program was merely a facade, lacking genuine concern for the well-being of the scholarship recipients. The school administration seemed primarily focused on catering to the needs of the wealthy and influential students under their care.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi remained on Coruscant to investigate potential Senatorial connections to the kidnapping. After meeting with Senator Tarturi and Tyro Caladian, a Senatorial aide from Svivreni, he began to suspect that Rana Halion may have formed an alliance with Senator Sano Sauro, Tarturi's rival in the Senate regarding trade-route redistribution. Kenobi's suspicions were confirmed when Alam Syk, the Jedi Temple's top security expert, traced Tyro's comlink after Kenobi tracked Sauro to one of his three favorite clandestine meeting spots, where he was scheduled to meet with Halion. When Halion arrived on time, but Sauro did not, Kenobi suspected that his actions had been anticipated. Later, when Obi-Wan confronted Sauro about his surveillance of Caladian, Sauro evaded the accusations and threatened to call security. Kenobi responded that Sauro's threats revealed his fear and that he would return. However, after discovering, with the assistance of Temple archivist Jocasta Nu, that the mercenary student group was indeed linked to the kidnapping through the squad's secret Andaran bank account, into which Halion was making deposits, Kenobi shifted his focus to the Leadership School squad. Soon after, Kenobi boarded a starship bound for Utare.

At the Leadership School, Marit invited Anakin to join her and her friends, Rolai Frac, Ze, Tulah, and Hurana, in a friendly swoop race competition. Anakin emerged victorious, earning the respect of Marit's friends. They revealed to him that they operated as a cohesive unit, accepting special missions from various planetary figures to ensure their survival, as they could not rely on the school for favorable references. Upon hearing this, Anakin experienced a surge of excitement, realizing that he may have discovered the secret squad that Master Mace Windu had mentioned as being involved in intra-planetary disputes and potentially assassinations, and which may have also kidnapped Gillam. Marit extended an invitation for Anakin to join their clandestine group, which held meetings in a seldom-used storeroom near the student quarters. To bypass security, they carried out their missions on their "free days" from school.

Several days after the swoop race, the squad received a mission proposal from Rana Halion, the ruler of Ieria. The group voted and agreed to accept the proposal, which involved traveling to Andara and breaching the planet's airspace. After Anakin shared the details with Ferus, Ferus refused to participate, arguing that it would be perceived as an unprovoked attack on Andara. He urged Anakin to join him in contacting Obi-Wan. Although angered by Ferus' response, Anakin reluctantly agreed, recognizing his duty as a Jedi.

Feigning illness to excuse himself from class, Anakin returned to his room, where he was supposed to meet Ferus and contact Obi-Wan. However, when Ferus failed to appear, Anakin grew concerned. He soon discovered that Ferus had vanished without a trace, just like Gillam.

Later, while contemplating whether to contact Obi-Wan in the library, Marit approached Anakin and informed him that the mission had been moved up and that they needed to depart immediately. Deciding that the best way to locate Gillam and Ferus was to accompany the squad, Anakin accepted.

Upon learning of Anakin's situation from Ferus, who had managed to make a call on an emergency comlink channel before his communication was abruptly cut off, Siri met Obi-Wan as he landed in Utare. She informed him that Ferus had also gone missing. When Obi-Wan learned that Anakin had joined the school's secret squad to participate in an airstrike on a non-hostile planet, he felt betrayed, realizing that Anakin did not fully trust him.

Disguising themselves as the King and Queen of Cortella seeking to enroll their sons, the two Jedi Masters infiltrated the school. With the assistance of Reymet Autem, who led them to an old utility-systems area, they soon located Ferus, who had been kidnapped by Gillam and his mercenary squad. Ferus explained that the student group intended to instigate a war between Andara and the other planets in the Andaran system and that Gillam had orchestrated his own kidnapping to exact revenge on his father. After examining Gillam's datapad, the Jedi deduced that Gillam planned to frame his father not only for the kidnapping but also for his own murder. He needed a body to impersonate himself, and he had chosen Anakin for that role.

After discovering the true nature of the squad's "mission"—that it was not non-hostile but would involve live-target "organic damage"—Anakin immediately resolved to sabotage it by disabling the laser cannon capacitors on Halion's Ierian starfighters, which were modified Delta-7 Aethersprites. However, Marit caught Anakin in the act and alerted the rest of the squad, who quickly surrounded him. Gillam revealed himself to Anakin and explained his kidnapping scheme. After a brief confrontation, Anakin disarmed the entire squad, including Gillam. But when Rana Halion, who had re-entered the hangar after an earlier introduction, found Anakin armed with his lightsaber and ready to fight, she summoned ten battle droids to subdue him.

In an astonishing display of the Force—a phenomenon that Kenobi had witnessed in the great Jedi Masters but never in a Padawan—Anakin defeated the droids. Finding his center of stillness in the Force, Anakin seemed to see time slow down, allowing him to perceive that he had "infinite time" to neutralize both the droids and the mercenaries. Siri and Ferus arrived with Kenobi just in time to witness Anakin's Force-enhanced abilities and to apprehend Rana Halion. Anakin's profound connection to the Force, as demonstrated in his performance, was astounding to witness.

Ferus Olin escorted the secret squad back to their transport, while Siri led a protesting Rana Halion away. The young mercenaries were to be interrogated by the Senate on Coruscant in order to untangle the web of lies, betrayals, and criminal activities that had transpired within their group.

Kenobi and Skywalker were left alone to converse. Despite Anakin's remarkable performance and connection to the Force, Obi-Wan was deeply troubled by Anakin's failure. He expressed his profound disappointment that Anakin had disregarded his concern for Ferus, abandoning any attempt to locate his fellow Jedi learner and instead joining a mercenary squad to attack a non-hostile world and incite a war. Obi-Wan lamented the current state of Anakin's training to become a Jedi Knight, feeling that Skywalker had not only violated a fundamental principle of the Jedi Code but had also damaged the bond between them as Master and apprentice. The Jedi Master felt shaken and betrayed, experiencing an unfamiliar emotion—fear.