Young – Elders War This civil war on the planet of Melida / Daan in 44 BBY was started by a group of children known as the Young in an attempt to bring peace to the planet , where the two native tribes , the Melida and Daan , had been at war with each other for centuries . Under the cover of helping Jedi Master Qui - Gon Jinn and his Padawan , Obi - Wan Kenobi , rescue the captured Jedi Tahl from the hands of the Melida , the Young captured the weapons of both tribes and attempted to sue for peace . Refusing , the two tribes joined forces , becoming known as the Elders , and retaliated with hidden starfighters . The Elders pressed this advantage for fourteen days , until Kenobi , now a Young leader and no longer a Jedi , noticed a critical error in the Elders ' tactics . This error was exploited by a Young strike team , eliminating all of the Elders ' starfighters and winning the war in the process . With victory achieved , the Young set out to restore peace by building a new government . However , differences over policies , a power grab , and the death of one of the Young leaders soon caused the government — and the fragile peace — to fall apart , and before long the Young started fighting each other . Jinn , who had been summoned back to the planet by his former Padawan , intervened , though , bringing an end to the battle . Shortly afterward , Jinn helped the Elders and Young negotiate a strong peace accord , accomplishing the Young ' s original objective . Prelude . Formation of the Young . On the planet of Melida / Daan , the two native tribes , the Melida and the Daan , had been locked in a civil war for centuries . In the years immediately prior to 44 BBY , Cerasi — the daughter of the Melida leader Wehutti — and Nield , a Daan orphan , decided that they had had enough of the endless conflict . Nield rounded up children from the various orphanages to form the Young , which then moved into tunnels under the capital city of Zehava that Cerasi had moved into earlier . Nield also organized tribes of children outside the city walls into the Scavenger Young , a subdivision of the Young which lived off of the land in the country . The intent of the Young was to one day end the war once and for all . The Jedi . In 44 BBY , Jedi Knight Tahl was sent by the Jedi to negotiate a peace treaty between the two warring tribes . Wehutti , who was the Jedi ' s contact , betrayed her , however , and she was captured by the Melida Council , who intended to use her as leverage to force the Jedi High Council to support a Melida - controlled government . Before any action could be taken , Jedi Master Yoda learned of Tahl ' s capture — but not of Wehutti ' s duplicity — and contacted Wehutti . Wehutti , still playing the role of double agent , agreed to sneak two Jedi into the city and help them work for Tahl ' s release , knowing that two additional Jedi hostages would make the Melida ' s goal easier . Yoda sent Master Qui - Gon Jinn and his thirteen - year - old Padawan , Obi - Wan Kenobi , to rescue Tahl . When Jinn and Kenobi arrived , they were met by Wehutti , who led them to Melida headquarters . Attempting to capture both Jedi , the Melida leader informed the Jedi that the headquarters was a weapon - free zone and that they would have to leave their lightsabers outside . Jinn and Kenobi appeared to comply , but the Master anticipated the possibility of betrayal and discreetly retained both lightsabers . After the three entered the building , the capture attempt failed as the Jedi were able to cut through a door and then a window to reach an enclosed courtyard . Unable to get over the mined walls , the Jedi first thought they were trapped , but then noticed a sewer grate being removed from below . A hand reached up and beckoned Jinn and Kenobi through , and they complied . The Jedi ' s rescuer was in fact Cerasi , who led the Master – Padawan team through the tunnels to an open space that was the Young ' s headquarters . Cerasi and Nield introduced themselves and explained to the Jedi why they had rescued them — the Young knew about Tahl ' s capture as well as Wehutti ' s plans to capture Jinn and Kenobi and use them for bargaining power . The Young were ready to put an end to the civil war and proposed a plan that would both allow them to do that as well as give the Jedi an opportunity to rescue Tahl . In the plan , the Young would launch diversionary attacks with fake weapons in both Melida and Daan sectors , then capture both sides ' weapons storage facilities ; meanwhile , the Jedi would be able to rescue Tahl in the confusion . Jinn agreed to the plan , and the Young made preparations . Kenobi , however , was torn between his duties as a Jedi and his new friendship with Cerasi . Breaking the rules of his apprenticeship by not asking for his Master ' s permission first , he agreed to help Cerasi and the Young with their plan and participate in the early stages of one of the attacks . The next morning , the Young , including Kenobi , left the tunnels and began provoking the Melida and Daan , collectively known as the Elders among the Young . Kenobi bonded further with Nield and Cerasi during the outing . Returning to the tunnels a short time later , Cerasi led the Jedi to Tahl . Cerasi bluffed her way past a pair of guards and then distracted them while the Jedi rescued Tahl . All parts of the plan succeeded , and the Young contacted both the Melida Council and the Daan Council to sue for peace . A ' war for peace ' . Peace refused . When the Daan and Melida Councils ignored the request for peace , the Young declared war on the Elders and asked the Jedi for help . Jinn refused , due to the need to get the injured Tahl back to the Jedi Temple . Nield and Cerasi began making plans to attack the deflection tower s surrounding Zehava to knock out the particle shields preventing entry to the city , which would allow the Scavenger Young to march on the city . They needed air transport to accomplish this , though , and asked Kenobi if they could use the starfighter that he and his Master had arrived on the planet in . Kenobi had been told by Jinn that they had been ordered by Yoda to return to the galactic capital of Coruscant the next morning , and knew full well that to agree to let them use the fighter would transcend simply disobeying his Master — it would directly oppose Yoda . After consideration , the young Padawan ' s bond with Nield and Cerasi won out over his Jedi responsibilities , and he agreed to fly the fighter for them . The next morning , the three friends left their underground headquarters , headed for the fighter , and took off . Attacking the towers in succession , Kenobi , piloting the ship , repeatedly outmaneuvered opposing military floater s while the two Young leaders opened fire with the laser cannons . Soon , the three teenagers had successfully destroyed all of the deflection towers , and the Scavenger Young began to pour into the city . Meanwhile , Jinn — unaware of his Padawan ' s latest violation of the rules — decided to make one last try for peace . Calling a joint meeting of the Melida and Daan Councils , he pleaded with them to make peace with the Young . The Elders did not take the threat posed by the Young seriously until reports started coming in of deflection towers going down . Realizing that the Young were behind the attack , the Elders decided to join forces to defeat the Young , but Jinn made the point that it was morally wrong to kill children , particularly their own children . After letting the point sink in , the Elders agreed to peace talks . Nield and Cerasi , however , refused to meet , calling it a " diversion " and saying that the Elders ' promises were not worth anything and that the fighting would quickly resume , despite Jinn ' s protestations to the contrary . Jinn then learned of his Padawan ' s defiance of the rules after discussing the attack on the deflection towers and pulled him aside to reprimand him . Meanwhile , Nield realized that he was right — the Elders attacked the Young with starfighters that had been hidden , causing chaos in the streets . Because of this , Jinn immediately made preparations to take Tahl to their fighter , while his Padawan tried to help his friends with the battle . Upon learning that the Elders had starfighters , Nield and Cerasi immediately asked Kenobi for use of the Jedi ' s fighter again . Unable to turn his back on his friends , the young apprentice took off for the ship , but was unable to beat his Master there . Jinn refused to let Kenobi take the ship and presented him with a choice : leave the planet with Jinn or stay with the Young , but if he chose to stay with the Young , he would not be a Jedi any more . After a brief standoff , Kenobi decided to stay on Melida / Daan . Jinn left in the fighter , leaving his now ex - Padawan with the Young . Endgame . For the next fourteen days , the two sides fought each other constantly . The Young were able to hold their own in the fighting , despite the Elders having the advantage of starfighters . The fighters were old and needed to be checked and refueled frequently . The Elders made the tactical mistake of refueling all five fighters simultaneously , and this error was noticed by Kenobi , who had become one of the Young leaders . When the Middle Generation — the few remaining middle - aged people left after the vast majority had been wiped out in the prior war — offered to ally with the Young if victory was close , the Young created a plan to invade the Elders ' spaceport during the refueling process and disable the fighters . Mawat , the leader of the Scavenger Young , expanded a tunnel into a shaft that led up into the spaceport , and a strike team infiltrated the hangar . After a brief fight , the team successfully disabled all of the fighters , and a time bomb placed on a large fuel tank destroyed most of the spaceport . With the Elders ' advantage gone , the Middle Generation formed an alliance with the Young , who declared victory . Aftermath . Unstable situation . The Young set up an advisory council led by Cerasi as a legislative body and elected Nield as a temporary governor . The government quickly got to work , unanimously banning all weapons in the council ' s first meeting ; only the Security Squad , led by Kenobi , would be allowed to carry weapons . The council also ordered the demolition of the Halls of Evidence , ancient mausoleums which the Elders visited frequently to feed their hatred of the other tribe . Initially , this went off without a hitch , but soon afterward , a group of Elders led by Wehutti protested the destruction of a Hall , outmaneuvering Nield ' s demolition crew and blocking their access to the building . Cerasi and Kenobi — who had come to the conclusion that the Halls should be preserved as they were the planet ' s only historical records — talked Nield out of destroying the Hall and then brought the matter to the council . When Kenobi cast the deciding vote against the demolition , Nield called for the removal of the ex - Jedi from the council but was overruled by Cerasi . Nield then began talking to various members of the Young , trying to gain enough votes to overthrow the entire council , and the Young quickly fell apart . Soon , Nield decided to destroy another Hall despite the council ' s order against it . Mawat , in a bid to take over the government , secretly armed both the Young and the Elders — who again showed up to protest — and placed snipers on the roof of a nearby building , intending to start a battle . Kenobi and the Security Squad showed up to stop the fight before it could begin , but Cerasi suddenly appeared and was immediately shot and killed by the snipers . Both sides then backed down , but the damage was done ; the Young completely fell apart , and war threatened to break out once again as both the Young and the Elders now walked the streets openly armed . Shortly afterward , Kenobi contacted the Jedi Temple and requested that his former Master be sent back to Melida / Daan , in an attempt to keep the fragile peace from exploding into war again . Qui - Gon Jinn agreed to do so and arrived three days later . Together with Kenobi , who was unaware of Mawat ' s treachery , they began investigating how Cerasi died . After questioning his former Padawan about what happened , they went to the warehouse where the Young had stored the weapons during the short period of disarmament in an attempt to track down how the Elders had been armed . Inside , two members of the Young , Deila and Joli , informed Jinn and Kenobi about what Mawat had done . Splitting up , Kenobi tracked down Nield in one of the Halls of Evidence , while Jinn headed into the underground tunnels . Kenobi told Nield about Mawat ' s actions , and Nield realized what had happened — Mawat wanted power . The final battle . As Nield and Kenobi were talking , Mawat and a squad of his Scavenger Young were planting explosives on the outside of the Hall . Realizing this , Kenobi and Nield ran outside and attacked the Scavenger Young , pushing them back away from the building . A group of the mainstream Young then showed up , surrounding Mawat and his allies . As the battle heated up , Kenobi began maneuvering toward Mawat , believing that the battle might end if he were able to capture the Scavenger Young leader . However , Jinn had located a hologram recorded by Cerasi on the morning of her death and , upon arriving at the scene of the battle , played it from atop a nearby fountain . As the late council head spoke , the battle stopped as everyone listened to her . When the hologram finished playing , the various participants in the battle — moved by her words — began dropping their weapons until only Mawat was still holding a weapon . With everyone else in the plaza looking at him , the leader of the Scavenger Young gave up his grab for power , ending the battle . Peace at last . With Jinn ' s help , the Young and the Elders made a strong peace agreement in which Nield was given a share of the power with the Melida and the Daan . Mawat admitted to the Young that he had been wrong to make a power grab and returned to the countryside . Kenobi realized that his place was with the Jedi , and he returned to the Jedi Temple with his former master to rejoin the Jedi Order . Behind the scenes . The civil war between the Elders and the Young first appears at the end of the fifth book in the " Jedi Apprentice " young readers series , titled " " , written by Jude Watson , and published in December 1999 . The war concludes in the first chapter of the next book , " " , published in February 2000 and also written by Watson . Over the next several years , it received mentions in several other books by Watson , primarily as Obi - Wan Kenobi reflected on the past . In April 2002 , it was briefly mentioned in the entry for Kenobi in Daniel Wallace ' s " The New Essential Guide to Characters " . Finally , in December 2008 , it was mentioned in several entries in " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " , though the war itself did not have its own entry in the compendium . The war is used to facilitate the storyline of Kenobi temporarily leaving the Jedi Order , an event that occurs at the very end of " The Defenders of the Dead " and has repercussions for the next five books in the " Jedi Apprentice " series , including " " , " " , " " , and " " , as well as a special edition in the series , " " , and the standalone young readers novel " Legacy of the Jedi " . In an interview with StarWars . com in June 2000 , Watson said that she " very deliberately " set up this plot to strengthen the bond between Kenobi and his Master .