Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda (4 page)

FWOOOOOP! CLIIIICK!

It was locked!

Ken gulped. In the dull light of the cargo bay he surveyed the damage to the device that controlled the door. It was broken. And not only was the door mechanism damaged, but a cable attached to the wall was also sliced.

Ken pounded on the door. He tried to pry it open, but he had no luck. His heart sank.

"Help!" he shouted. "Can anybody hear me? I’m locked in the cargo bay!"

The bulkhead door was very thick. Ken suspected that even if Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and he droids were now aboard, they wouldn’t be able to hear him. Even Artoo-Detoo’s sound sensors probably wouldn’t be able to detect him back here.

Ken tried pushing on the door one more time, then gave up, collapsing to the floor in despair.

"Help, let me out of here, I’m supposed to start school!" he shouted.

Ken sat there, desperately trying to think of some way to escape. Then the soft white light turned red, and the entire hold rumbled with the sudden sound of the ship’s power converter and ion flux stabilizer.

The rumbling increased, and Ken was slammed against the floor of the cargo hold, pressed down by an incredibly strong pressure. Unless he was mistaken, he was now on his way to the planet Duro!

With full obedience to the will of Kadann and High Prophet Jedgar, Grand Moff Hissa was also en route to Duro. But Hissa had no clue as to the purpose of his voyage. Now that Kadann had seized control of the Empire, the grand moffs no longer had access to the highest levels of top-secret information.

Hissa’s strike cruiser encountered no space traffic along the way, no sign of any Imperial starfighters, no TIE fighters, or even any probe droids. However, as the gray and dying world of Duro came into view, Hissa spied a spacecraft that had a shape he recognized instantly-the Millennium Falcon!

"Opportunity strikes, Jedgar!" Hissa exclaimed. "That’s Han Solo’s spaceship up ahead. If fortune is with us, then Solo will have some important passengers aboard. And I’m not speaking of that oaf-brained Wookiee he calls his copilot. The reward on Chewbacca’s head is only ten thousand credits. But if Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are flying with him-"

"Call your best sharpshooters to the forward ion cannons!" High Prophet Jedgar commanded.

"Right away," Grand Moff Hissa snapped with a salute.

"And I have a splendid idea," Jedgar continued, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "This will be a contest to determine the best gunner aboard. Whoever destroys the Millennium Falcon shall have the pleasure of dining with Kadann and me aboard Space Station Scardia!"

Four Imperial gunners who were skilled weapons masters immediately took up positions at the forward ion cannons. Trained to handle everything from single-light laser cannons to turbolaser units, the gunners blasted the Falcon at full power.

Round after round was targeted at the main power thrusters, as Han Solo’s ship weaved in and out to avoid the laserfire.

Then the Falcon turned to face the Imperial strike cruiser. Han returned the fire, but his ship’s quad laser cannons were incredibly weak.

Grand Moff Hissa laughed. "If that’s the best the Rebel Alliance can do in their defense, they’d be wise to surrender and plead for their lives," he scoffed.

Aboard the Millennium Falcon Han Solo was surprised by the weak firepower of his spaceship.

"I only want to know one thing," Han said in disgust. "Who was the Kowakian lizard-monkey who fooled around with our quad laser cannons and busted them?" Frowning, Han pounded a fist on the air lock beside him in frustration. "I had a full systems checkup at DRAPAC

before we left Mount Yoda, and everything was purring like a mooka!"

"Artoo," Luke said, turning to his little barrel-shaped droid. "Find out if the problem is in our anticoncussion field generator, or whether something’s wrong with the torplex deflector cable."

A thin rod popped out of Artoo-Detoo and plugged itself into the Falcon’s master sensor unit. "Kzeeep Kvoooch-Bzeeek!" Artoo beeped.

"Artoo has located the problem, Master Luke," See-Threepio explained, waving his arms frantically toward the engineering station at the rear of the spaceship. "There’s trouble with a power cable back in the cargo bay, near the bulkhead door that connects with the service access area. In fact, Artoo says that the cargo-bay door is jammed shut. Not only that, but the hyperdrive modulator appears to be loose. Oh my! We’ve no chance of escaping if we can’t go into hyperdrive!"

"Can he unfreeze the bulkhead door so we can get inside the cargo bay and repair the damage?" Princess Leia asked, keeping an eye on the laserfire coming from the Imperial strike cruiser.

"Graaaawg!" Chewbacca interrupted, as the navigation control panel of the Millennium Falcon began vibrating beneath his furry hands.

The attack from the Imperial guns was getting worse. Han Solo had to keep the Falcon spinning in order to dodge the blasts. But he couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

"Chzootch Gneek!" Artoo buzzed, turning his dome back and forth quickly.

"I’m afraid the outlook is very discouraging, Master Luke," Threepio explained. "The bulkhead door controls have been smashed."

"There must be a way to unfreeze that door," Luke insisted, getting up quickly and heading for the cargo bay.

"Master Luke, wait for me!" Threepio shouted, as he hurried alongside to assist. Artoo rolled along with them as well.

When they reached the bulkhead door, Luke heard a strange sound.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

"Someone’s pounding on the other side of the door," Luke said. "We’ve got a stowaway!

Maybe our quad cannons and hyperdrive modulator were sabotaged by an Imperial spy!"

SCREEECH!

Suddenly the Millennium Falcon rumbled as it took a direct hit from Imperial fire.

Threepio braced himself, but Luke toppled to the floor, as Artoo rolled forward, slamming into the door.

"Master Luke, get up!" Threepio screamed, but Luke remained on the floor, sitting upright with his eyes closed. "Master Luke, are you alright?"

"Quiet, Threepio," Luke explained. "Can’t you see I’m concentrating on the Force?"

Luke tried to calm himself, using a Jedi mind technique to focus his thoughts on the door’s latch. Emptying his mind of all thoughts, he allowed the great universal power of the Force to flow through him.

Luke then opened his eyes and aimed his gaze at the lock to the bulkhead door.

TZIP! KNIK!

The lock tumblers came free! The latch of the lock was moving!

FWOOOOP!

The bulkhead door began to rise!

Luke jumped to his feet and drew his lightsaber blade to confront the Imperial spy on the other side of the door.

Seeing the dark silhouette in front of him, Luke began to swing his blade at the saboteur.

Then Luke gasped, pulling his blade aside at the last instant. It wasn’t a spy after all!

It was Ken, who was rushing frantically through the bulkhead doorway toward Luke!

"Way to go, Luke!" Ken shouted. "You saved my life!"

Luke shook his head, unable to believe his eyes.

"Saved you? I nearly destroyed you with my lightsaber! What are you doing here, Ken?

You’re supposed to be back at Mount Yoda starting school today!"

"I’m sorry, Luke. It was an accident."

"Some accident!" Luke snapped. "You hid aboard our ship so you wouldn’t have to go to school. It’s your first day, and already you’re playing hooky!"

"No, Luke, that wasn’t what happened, honest," Ken pleaded. "I thought you and the others had already boarded the Millennium Falcon, and I came to say good-bye and wish you a safe journey. When I called out and you didn’t answer, I looked around. The next thing I knew-"

"The next thing you knew, you’d practically destroyed our quad laser cannons and smashed the control to the bulkhead door," Luke said, "and shut down our hyperdrive. Now we can’t escape!"

"But it wasn’t my fault," Ken protested. "There was a loose crate and-"

Luke, Ken, and Threepio quickly braced themselves, as more Imperial laserfire hit the Millennium Falcon-probably at the intake vent for the ship’s cooling system. Artoo fell over onto his back, his dome striking the hard metal floor. "I’ll help you, Artoo," Ken said, lifting the barrel-shaped droid back up. "Somebody should have manufactured you with hands, little droid. Then you wouldn’t have these problems."

"Bzeeebch bzooop!" Artoo tooted in gratitude.

"Success!" Threepio shouted, unaware of Artoo and his troubles. "I’ve just replaced this piece of torn cable. Our quad laser cannons should be working splendidly now! By tightening up the connector to the hyperdrive modulator, I seem to have fixed it!"

The Millennium Falcon’s defensive guns climbed up to full power again. And the lights on the display panel indicated to Han and Chewbacca that they could now use the hyperdrive and accelerate to light speed once again.

"Nice move!" Han said, as Luke returned to the navigation room. "Hey, what’s the kid doing here?" he asked upon seeing the young Jedi Prince tagging along behind Luke.

"Ken!" Princess Leia exclaimed, shocked to see the boy aboard.

But Leia was even more shocked when, instead of going into hyperdrive and escaping at faster-than-light speed, Han Solo began playing a dangerous game of space-tag. The Falcon darted toward Grand Moff Hissa’s Imperial strike cruiser, as Han and Chewbacca took aim.

"Not so close, Han," Princess Leia shouted. "If they’re going to blow up the Falcon, don’t make it any easier for them!"

"Nobody’s going to blow us up, Princess," Han said confidently. "We’re just going to puncture a few holes in their air locks so those cocky Imperials can say good-bye to their air. Then they can eat our space dust!"

But Han had spoken too soon.

Grand Moff Hissa’s marksmen made a direct hit on the Millennium Falcon’s backup cooling system. And then, to add insult to injury, they melted the Falcon’s missile tubes.

Han and Chewbacca had no choice but to cut the battle short, shift their spaceship into hyperdrive, and run from the fight at faster-than-light speed.

In the Null Zone of space, deep inside Space Station Scardia, a group of Prophets of the Dark Side gathered around the carbonite block that had just been delivered.

The carbonite was now on a thick platform, directly below the deadly neutron furnace that powered the cube-shaped space station. Trioculus’s face stuck out of the block, covered with a thick film of carbonite, looking as though he had been sculpted in black marble.

Kadann had given Trioculus his dark blessing to rule the Empire. With help from Grand Moff Hissa, Trioculus had fulfilled Kadann’s prophecy about the new Imperial leader: After Palpatine’s fiery death

Another leader soon comes to command the Empire

And on his right hand he does wear

The glove of Darth Vader!

Kadann gazed deeply at the frozen face of Trioculus. It was no longer the face of the confident and brash liar who had once visited Kadann to prove that he wore the indestructible symbol of Imperial might-the right-hand glove of Darth Vader. It was now a twisted, burned, and tormented face-the face of a failure who had never measured up to his dark mission, and a disgrace to the Empire. Trioculus had failed to locate the Lost City of the Jedi-or the young Jedi Prince who was raised in the Lost City by Jedi caretaker droids.

Kadann sneered, knowing that the fateful end of Trioculus was close at hand.

Kadann hobbled over to the trigger that was to blast the carbonite block with deadly rays from the neutron furnace. The black-bearded dwarf shook his head in disgust, then touched the trigger.

TZZZZZZZZZZCH!

The scorching heat of four fiery neutron beams struck the carbonite block from all sides.

The carbonite blistered, buckled, turned white-hot, and then, as the Prophets of the Dark Side shielded their eyes from the blast of intense light, the block completely vaporized.

When Kadann released his fingertip from the trigger of the neutron beam, there was nothing left of the block at all. Not even a trace of it remained on the platform.

Kadann turned to Prophet Gornash, the massive prophet who towered alongside him.

"It’s done," Kadann declared.

"But the glove," Prophet Gornash objected. "The glove of Darth Vader is indestructible.

Why isn’t the glove still on the platform?"

Kadann’s smile didn’t fade. "You call yourself a prophet, Gornash, and yet you cannot answer such an obvious question?"

"Regretfully, Kadann, the answer truly eludes me," Gornash replied, raising his brows quizzically. "Unless, perhaps, we have just vaporized someone else, not Trioculus."

"But for that to be the case, I would have to be mistaken," Kadann said. "And in this universe, Gornash, all things are possible, except one. And what may that one thing be?

Say it, prove that I have taught you well."

"It’s impossible that you could ever be mistaken, all-seeing, all-knowing Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side!" Gornash replied, bravely glancing at the stem face of Kadann.

Kadann nodded slowly. "You are correct. Have no doubt that Trioculus has been destroyed.

But the glove-the glove still exists. In fact, the day Trioculus removed it, it was already on its way to me here, thanks to the efficient work of High Prophet Jedgar and my secret team of Imperial intelligence agents."

Kadann unlocked one of his thousands of display cases in Space Station Scardia and removed a delicately carved black box made of onyx. He lifted the lid and revealed the glove of Darth Vader! "Behold!" Kadann declared triumphantly. "No greater symbol of darkness was ever made than this glove -- the gauntlet that once covered Darth Vader’s right hand. When it caused Trioculus to go blind because of his unworthiness, he removed it and began to wear a replica of the glove -- one that was a fake, just like Trioculus himself. And now that he’s been vaporized, may that liar and impostor never rest in peace!"

The Millennium Falcon came out of hyperdrive and circled back toward the planet Duro, zigzagging its way as it approached one of the six huge shipyards orbiting the gray planet. The Falcon was almost out of control.