Attack on the Elders' spaceport

"We have to strike when the starfighters are being refueled. It's our only hope."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

The war on the planet of Melida/Daan between the Young and the Elders reached its climax when the Young attacked the spaceport where the Elders refueled their starfighters. The Elders were making the tactical error of refueling all of their fighters&mdash;which were their primary advantage in the war&mdash;at the same time, and when the Young noticed this, Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;one of the Young's leaders&mdash;came up with a plan to eliminate this advantage and possibly win the war. A small strike team infiltrated the hangar through an underground shaft, and while the rest of the team stood guard, Roenni ran from fighter to fighter, using a fusioncutter to disable each ship. However, a utility droid bumped into a barrel, alerting the Elders' guards, who opened fire. As the rest of the strike team returned fire, Roenni successfully disabled the remaining fighters, and the team retreated through the shaft. Kenobi tossed a time bomb onto a large fuel tank as he left, which subsequently detonated, destroying most of the spaceport. With the Elders' advantage gone, the Middle Generation&mdash;which had remained neutral in the war up to this point&mdash;allied with the Young, who declared victory in the war.

Prelude
"But, hey, you'll come up right behind the fueling tanks. Three of the starfighters are, bang, lined up next to them. Two are close to the entrance, There are two utility droids and six guards. At least, blast, they won't be expecting you to come from below."

- Mawat, giving the all clear for the strike team to proceed

For centuries, the planet of Melida/Daan had been locked in a civil war as the two native tribes&mdash;the Melida and the Daan&mdash;fought over years-old grudges. In 44 BBY, a group of children known as the Young made a bid for peace by capturing both tribes' weapons and marching on the capital city of Zehava, but the two tribes joined forces as the Elders and retaliated with hidden starfighters, giving them an advantage over the Young.

After fourteen days of fighting, Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;a Young leader who resigned from the Jedi Order to join the fight&mdash;noticed that the Elders were making the critical error of refueling all five fighters at the same time and created a plan to take advantage of this. Another Young leader, Mawat, excavated a tunnel from the Young's underground headquarters to a power shaft under the Elders' spaceport, and a strike team consisting of Kenobi, Nield, Cerasi, and Roenni used this path to gain access to the hangar during refueling.

The attack
"They've probably called for help on their comlinks." "We need to cover Roenni. Keep firing."

- Cerasi and Kenobi, after being spotted by the Elders' guards



The Young's plan was to have Roenni, the youngest member of the team, quietly disable the power converters on the fighters with a fusioncutter while the other three team members stood guard. This worked for the first three, which were near the Young's entry point, but the other two ships were closer to the Elder's guards, and Roenni was too afraid to cross the hangar alone. Kenobi moved to her side and ran to the last two fighters with her. During this maneuver, however, a utility droid bumped a barrel, which rolled up to Kenobi and Roenni. A guard turned around and spotted the two infiltrators, but before he could act, Kenobi leaped through the air and knocked the guard down, then knocked a second guard out.

The other four guards opened fire with their blasters, and&mdash;as Roenni worked on disabling the fourth ship&mdash;Nield, Cerasi, and Kenobi returned fire. Roenni soon finished with that fighter and moved to the last one. Two guards moved to either side of the spaceport in an attempt to get behind the Young strike team, and Kenobi moved to compensate. Finished with the last fighter, Roenni&mdash;who didn't know about the guards' maneuver&mdash;jumped down from the ship and was immediately spotted by one of the flanking guards, who turned to fire on her. Kenobi responded by knocking the guard's blaster from his hand with the Force before running to Roenni's side and bringing her back to relative safety.

Kenobi then pushed the barrel that had been knocked over by the droid earlier toward the guards. It hit one guard, knocking him into a second guard and pushing both of them into the other guards' line of fire. Taking advantage of the guards' distraction, the strike team bolted for the shaft they had entered the hangar through. Cerasi, Roenni, and Nield quickly jumped down through the hole, followed by Kenobi, who tossed a time bomb onto a nearby fuel tank. The resulting explosion destroyed the bulk of the spaceport.

Aftermath
"It's done. The Elders have no starfighters anymore. You can contact the Middle Generation." "I think we just won the war!"

- Nield informing Mawat of the plan's success

Afterward, the Young declared victory in the war after the Middle Generation&mdash;the few remaining middle-aged natives after most had been wiped out in the prior war&mdash;allied with them, and a government was formed by the Young. The government was able to keep the peace for a short time, but after infighting broke out over policies, it quickly fell apart. Soon after, the now-divided Young battled one last time, this time against itself. The intervention of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn stopped the fight, and a strong peace agreement was soon reached between the Elders and the Young.

Behind the scenes
The attack on the spaceport appears at the beginning of the sixth book in the young readers Jedi Apprentice series, Jedi Apprentice: The Uncertain Path, written by Jude Watson and published in February 2000 by Scholastic. The Uncertain Path is so far the attack's only appearance or mention.

Appearances

 * Jedi Apprentice: The Uncertain Path