EXT. SWAMP WORLD - CAVE - DAY (DREAMSCAPE)
Obi-Wan stands looking into the mouth of a dark, foreboding cave with thick ground mist swirling about his ankles. Here, Obi-Wan is only about sixteen years old, with shaggy blond hair and clad in a simple tan flight suit. Standing beside the Jedi apprentice is a very tall humanoid figure clad in a black, hooded robe that conceals all but his pale white hands.
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD OBI-WAN: (turns to the figure) What is in there?
The figure responds by silently lifting an arm and pointing with one long finger toward the cave.
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD OBI-WAN: (turns toward the cave) Only what I take with me.
Tentative, Obi-Wan steps away from the dark figure towards the cave. Coming up to the mouth he stops, cautiously peering about the dark interior for hidden dangers. When he has satisfied himself that there are no immediate threats to his person, he slowly slips inside.
INT. CAVE - DAY (DREAMSCAPE)
Ben makes his way along the length of the cave's interior, taking care to avoid tripping in the overgrown vegetation which runs along the walls and floor. Soon he stops, his eyes growing wide.
At the end of the cave is a figure clad in the uniform of a Coruscanti Jedi apprentice with thick, dark hair tied up in a topknot; the figure stands with his back turned toward Obi-Wan.
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD OBI-WAN: (walks up to the figure and gingerly places a hand on his shoulder) Qui-Gon?
Suddenly the figure spins around, revealing himself to be the young Jedi who fought with Ben against the zabrak darksider. His skin gray and his eyes glassy, the Jedi is plainly dead.
QUI-GON: (echoing) Obi-Wan ...
The cadaver's eyeballs roll up into his head, and a sticky, yellow ichor oozes out from under them, running down his cheeks. His black lips part, and a centipede slides out of his mouth.
Before Obi-Wan can react to this apparition standing before him, an arm wielding a ruby-bladed saberstaff bursts through the corpse's chest, filling the air with decayed, black biological matter.
INT. TATOOINE - LARS HOMESTEAD/OBI-WAN'S BEDROOM - DAY
Obi-Wan bolts upright in bed, breathing rapidly with his face wet with heavy perspiration. Awake, he is no longer in the dark cave on the swamp planet with the apparition of Qui-Gon Jinn, but that is no cause for comfort; from outside can be heard the shouts of Owen and Anakin, the hollerings of Tusken Raiders, and the screams of blasterfire.
EXT. LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - DAY
Owen and Anakin, blasters firing, fight desperately to repel a raiding party of Tusken Raiders. The Tuskens, hollering and hooting, gallop in a circle around the entrance to the homestead, shaking gaffi sticks and blaster rifles above their heads in defiance.
INT. LARS HOMESTEAD/OBI-WAN'S BEDROOM - DAY
Having hurriedly dressed himself, Obi-Wan grabs his lightsaber and rushes out the door.
EXT. LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - DAY
OWEN: (to Anakin) My pack's running low!
ANAKIN: (quickly pulls a fresh blaster pack from a satchel at his side) Here!
The young blond man tosses the fresh blaster pack to Owen, who catches it easily. As he hurries to replace the old pack, five Sand People dismount their banthas and coming charging. Unable to snap the pack in in time, Owen can do nothing but use the blaster rifle as a shield as one of the Tuskens comes at him, raining down blows with his gaffi stick.
INT. LARS HOMESTEAD/ENTRANCE - DAY
As Ben reaches the sealed entrance that will take him up to the surface above the homestead, he finds Beru and Nellith crouched down in defensive positions, blasters in their hands.
OBI-WAN: What's happening?
NELLITH: Tuskens!
BERU: They came out of nowhere and just started circling the house, hollering and shooting at us!
With desperation evident in his eyes, Ben crosses to the door, opening it.
OBI-WAN: (to Nellith) Do you have another blaster?
Nellith nods.
OBI-WAN: Then give me the one you have.
Nellith tosses the blaster to Ben, who catches it effortlessly.
BERU: Be careful, Ben.
Saluting her with his lightsaber, Obi-Wan runs out the door, sealing it behind him.
EXT. LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - DAY
Owen and Anakin fight on bravely, with Anakin taking out every Sand Person he can find in the scope of his blaster rifle while Owen uses his powerless weapon as a club to keep the others at bay. With half of the Tusken Raiders having dismounted their banthas, however, the two moisture farmers are sorely outnumbered.
Having taken all the damage it can, Owen's rifle snaps in two as a Sand Person gives it one, strong whack with his gaffi stick. Suddenly defenseless, Owen can do nothing as the Tusken swings the gaffi through the air, hitting him in the head with the butt of the weapon and knocking him out cold.
As Owen collapses to the ground, Obi-Wan comes bursting out from the dome entrance, the azure blade of his lightsaber engaged in his left hand with the cold blaster gripped in his right. Sighting the Tusken take out his brother, he aims the blaster and shoots the warrior in the head before he can deliver a killing blow to the unconscious moisture farmer.
ANAKIN: (seeing Obi-Wan) Ben!
Together, Obi-Wan and Anakin press their counterattack against the Tusken Raiders. With his skills as a Jedi at his command, Ben makes significant progress against the desert warriors, cutting them down in droves with both his lightsaber and the blaster; Nik, with the blaster rifle and a smaller blaster pistol, covers him, firing upon each and every Tusken who escapes the Jedi's offense to attack him in turn.
In the end, though, the numbers of the Sand People prove to be too overwhelming a force even for the Jedi to overcome. Four of the last six remaining Tuskens gang up on the Jedi, pulling him to the ground and knocking him out; when Anakin rushes to offer his aid, the other two turn on him, with one of them hurling a shuriken which strikes the boy in the shoulder and cuts into the underlying flesh and bone, knocking him head-over-heels to the sandy ground.
With all three men down for the count, the six Tusken Raiders turn their attention to the entrance dome leading down into the underground homestead. With fierce determination, they break through the locked door and file inside. Blaster bolts ring out from within, and the pained grunts and cries of injured Sand People follow.
After several moments, four of the Sand People come out, Nellith and Beru struggling in the arms of two of them. As they come to one of the banthas, the Tuskens grab some metal cable and proceed to tie the two women up with it. Once that is done, the two women are tossed up onto one of the banthas and secured into place. The remaining Tusken Raiders then tie their banthas together and take their place atop their mounts.
With cries of victory, the Tuskens take off in a gallop with their captives toward the horizon. They disappear into the distance as a fierce wind begins to pick up, scouring the sand and erasing the tracks the banthas leave behind.
An hour or so later, Obi-Wan returns to consciousness and pushes himself up into a sitting position, groaning with the effort. Looking about him, he tries to locate his lightsaber but cannot find it; one of the Tuskens has obviously taken it.
Rising to feet, the Jedi makes his way over to Anakin; with the blades of the shuriken embedded in his flesh, the boy is in very bad shape.
OBI-WAN: (pained) Dammit, Anakin ...
Having regained consciousness as well, Owen slowly walks over to Ben and Nik, rubbing his bruised head.
OWEN: (concerned) How is he? Is he okay?
OBI-WAN: He's losing a lot of blood. (strips his shirt off and crumples it up, placing it around the wound and pressing down on it) We have to get him medical attention immediately. Bring the speeder around.
OWEN: Yeah, sure, just -- (freezes) Beru! Oh, God, I forgot about them!
With new matters of importance on his mind, Owen takes off in a run for the entrance into the homestead.
INT. LARS HOMESTEAD/ENTRANCE - DAY
Stepping through the entrance into the home, Owen begins searching through the house for Beru and Nellith. While he finds the bodies of the two Tuskens they managed to kill before been captured, Beru and Nellith themselves are nowhere to be found.
Consumed with fear and rage, the moisture farmer falls to his knees, releasing a mindless, animalistic roar as he clenches his fists into tight, hard balls.
EXT. LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - DAY
Having brought the Lars landspeeder out of the garage himself, Obi-Wan, carrying the still form of Anakin in his arms, walks up to the vehicle. Climbing inside, he lays the unconscious boy down in the back seat carefully.
Just as he climbs back out of the speeder, Owen comes at him, grabbing the Jedi by the shoulders and dragging him down to the ground.
OWEN: (panicking) They took them, Ben, they took them! They took Nellith, they took Beru! They took them!
Rage starting to well up within him once again, the moisture farmer starts shaking Ben by the shoulders.
OWEN: (enraged) What were you doing when those monsters took them, you bastard!? Why weren't you protecting them?! Answer me, goddamn you!
Without a word, Obi-Wan slaps Owen hard in the face.
OWEN: (releases Ben and collapses to a heap, sobbing) Oh, God, Ben! They took her! They took her! What are they going to do to her?! What!?
Pulling Owen up into a sitting position, the Jedi slaps him hard in the face again.
OBI-WAN: (firm) Snap out of it, Owen! Get a hold of yourself now!
Sobbing, Owen begins to recover his bearings.
OBI-WAN: (cont'd) Anakin has been badly injured -- we have to get him to Anchorhead immediately. If we don't, he'll die. Do you understand?
OWEN: (nods) Yes, yes, I understand.
OBI-WAN: Alright. (beat) I've bandaged the wound as best I can and placed him in the speeder. You have to be the one to take him to Anchorhead.
OWEN: But what about Beru, about Nellith?
OBI-WAN: With that attack you sustained, you're in no condition to track down those Tuskens. (beat) I'll find Beru and Nellith.
OWEN: But they took your weapon!
OBI-WAN: The lightsaber is a tool, nothing more. I don't need it to be a Jedi.
EXT. LARS HOMESTEAD - COURTYARD - DAY
Two landspeeders comes to life and zoom off in opposite directions. The first is the Lars family speeder -- with Owen at the controls and Anakin injured in the back seat -- headed off toward Anchorhead, while the second is the rented landspeeder of Obi-Wan, who is headed out into the deep desert, on the search for the Tusken Raiders who kidnapped Nellith and Beru.