Summary: Obi-Wan has a temporary assignment with the 212st at the beginning of the Clone Wars.

A/N: This comes out to around... Five chapters. I should be able to post one every day, unless something happens that keeps me from my computer. Please enjoy, and any feedback is appreciated - as people have said, 'reviews are love', and are very much lov*ed*!

Wind howled, slamming against the sides of the gunship. The ground below looked orange as far as the eye could see; white and soft browns mingling over the planet's surface. Ten men were packed inside of the back, waiting as the pilot lowered the ship. The mission was supposed to be a fairly simple one, stop Separatists from setting up a base. There was already an outpost. Several clones and their General, Obi-Wan Kenobi had been sent to take it over.

Obi-Wan stood at the far end of the gunship, repeating their orders loud enough for all the men to hear. "When we reach the landing zone, the pilot will take the gunship, and wait for our signal back on Vigilance. We will cross the ten miles from the landing zone to the outpost, and take it back. Intel says the Separatist presence is minimal. Only a few droids have been left to watch over the base. Any questions?" Obi-Wan asked? It was his first mission with the 212th - 7th Sky Corps - and their first mission out as a group; first real mission.

No one raised any concerns, or disagreements. Commander Cody, who stood beside the General, glanced out through the now-open door on the side. They would reach the landing zone in moments.

"Pilot, we're right above it! Take us down," Obi-Wan called.

"Yes-sir." The response came over the comms, and the gunship lowered. The loud thrum of the engines was almost deafening, and comforting at the same time.

Obi-Wan waited, one hand on a bar above his head, the other hanging loosely at his side. The doors of the gunship opened, and the ground came closer and closer every second. Sand blasted up to meet them, unsettled by the ship's powerful engines as it neared the landing zone.

Then it came to a rather abrupt halt. "Go, go!" Cody shouted, and they began to jump out two-at-a-time until Cody and Obi-Wan were the only two left in the craft.

Obi-Wan gave a wry smile, and he hopped out, gracefully landing and straightening up to look around. There was nothing... nothing but white sand dunes for miles and miles around.

All around him, the clones were looking around, staring at the ground, and the hills. Obi-Wan pondered the strange behavior, but didn't ask.

Cody stared towards the hills in interest. Ever since the Clone Wars had begun mere months ago, he had been sent on quite a few missions with the 7th Sky Corps - but had yet to be sent to a planet like this. A planet of sand. "Get to walking!" he called, and strode forward himself. He sank slowly with every step, the red ground soft underfoot. He had never seen anything like it.

Obi-Wan's expression turned to curiosity, as even his commander walked forward as though star-struck. Obi-Wan strode along beside him as the other men all moved out. Turning back, Obi-Wan waved to the pilot, who gave him a curt nod and took off. The gunship lifted away from the ground, blowing sand over the group.

Cody watched as it swirled in the air, blasted away from the metal ship. He looked forward once again. All clones ever saw until they were deployed from Kamino was water, an ocean, rain and the white cities.

"Tell me, Cody..." Obi-wan lowered his voice, as though he was about to say something very secretive. "What do you see that I'm not seeing? What do they see?" The Jedi was puzzled.

"It's the sand, sir." Even as he spoke, his voice seemed different.

"The... sand?" Obi-Wan looked down at it. It was crystalline, white, and rather gritty... like all sand seemed to be. All right, so white sand was more unique than brown, but Obi-Wan saw nothing in it.

"You never know there is another beautiful thing until you see it."

Obi-Wan stopped in his tracks a moment. He looked around and smiled softly. "True." Obi-Wan was used to it. He'd forgotten the beauty of sand, in favor of just getting through it. But the clones hadn't seen it before... Besides Kamino, they'd only been a handful of places, and none of them had any sand. So to them, it was all knew. Obi-Wan chided himself for not thinking of that before.

Cody nodded. Ahead of them, one of the troopers bent down and picked up a handful of the sand, watching it running through his fingers. One of his brothers cracked a mocking joke and gave him a shove before heading forward again, but still both men looked at the ground in interest.

Obi-Wan made a mental note of this, and - when no one was looking - he knelt, pulled a small glass from his robe, and filled it with sand. Who knows, he thought to himself, it may come in handy. Standing, Obi-Wan headed forward. "It's only a few miles away, and we should make it there within a short time." All right, it was more than a few miles, but the men would be able to make it an easy and quick trip.