Jedi Prince_ Prophets Of The Dark Side Part 2

"Well, a guy could get killed at a wedding," Han replied. "A guy could slip on the floor while dancing with his bride and end up breaking his neck."

"This conversation is getting ridiculous," Leia said in frustration. "Just tell me this, do you think that Chewbacca should sit at the Wookiee table or with us? I was thinking he should be the host of the Wookiee table, but since he's your Best Man, he should probably sit with us. What do you think?"

"Chewie should sit with us," said Luke Skywalker, joining the conversation as he entered the lounge with Ken. "From what I can tell, he's not too fond of some of his Wookiee relatives."

"How did things go with your mission, Luke?" Leia asked. She smiled, glad to see that he and Ken had returned safely. "Did you find the plans for the Omniprobe?"

"We sure did."

Luke unfolded the Omniprobe blueprints that he and Ken had brought back from the Lost City of the Jedi, and showed the plans to Leia. "The next step," Luke said, "is to get our engineering research team to build a prototype model."

Ken glanced over at Han, who seemed very comfortable lying back on his floating pillow, studying the report. "What are you reading that's so engrossing, Han?" Ken asked.

"The latest SPIN report on Triclops," Han replied. "Seems that before they could attempt surgery to remove the implant in his right upper molar, the SPIN examiners found out that Triclops's tooth has a very deep nerve root that goes all the way to his brain. They thought they could easily extract it, but it turns out it's a very unusual condition.

Pulling that particular tooth could prove to be very dangerous. Right now we're on hold for the operation."

In the meantime, the Alliance did nothing to prevent Triclops from being able to sneak into the file storage area again. Luke deliberately planted a file on the Lost City of the Jedi that was filled with disinformation-misleading facts, a phony map, and false coordinates that would lead the Imperials away from the actual Lost City, and toward the decoy green wall the droids had built. If the Imperials took the bait and went to the decoy wall, they would end up in the dark cave-perhaps falling into the underground river of molten lava!

That night, Triclops began sleepwalking again. He went to the file storage area, where he located the file on the Lost City and memorized its contents. Triclops then replaced it, trying to make it look as though nothing in the file storage area had been disturbed.

While this was going on, the Alliance deliberately relaxed its air defense network. An Imperial probe droid approached the Alliance Senate again, and this time it was deliberately permitted to come close enough to pick up Triclops's broadcasted message. The message was from his thought waves, as his thoughts were broadcast by the tiny Imperial implant in his molar tooth.

Afterward, a few X-wing starfighters were sent up to chase the Imperial probe droid away.

The X-wings's instructions were to let the probe escape and deliberately avoid shooting it down, so the disinformation from Triclops would reach the Prophets of the Dark Side.

CHAPTER 4.

The Trial of the Grand Moffs At s.p.a.ce Station Scardia, a trial was about to begin. Four grand moffs had been arrested in their Moffs.h.i.+p by the crew of an Imperial starfighter. Grand Moff Hissa, chained to his hover-chair, and Grand Moffs Thistleborn, Dunhausen, and Muzzer, with their hands chained behind their backs, stood accused of treason against the Empire.

Kadann entered the Chamber of Dark Justice, preparing to sit in judgment. The dwarf took his position on an ornate chair that had once belonged to an ancient king of Duro. To make Kadann appear taller than he actually was, the chair was placed on a raised stage.

Defeen, the wolflike alien who had recently been promoted by the Prophets of the Dark Side to the position of interrogator supreme, prowled in front of a jury of five prophets.

"The trial of the grand moffs now beginsssss!" Defeen hissed. "I call the first witnesssssss-Zorba the Hutt!"

"But Zorba the Hutt is dead!" Grand Moff Hissa exclaimed, gasping.

Zorba, very much alive, wiggled through the round doorway and squirmed to the witness stand. "Thought you'd seen me for the last time? Wrong!" Zorba said tauntingly, glaring at the four accused men with his big, yellow reptilian eyes. "A-haw-haw-haw . !"

Kadann began the proceedings by picking up a blue chalklike ball from a collection of colored b.a.l.l.s at his side. He crushed it in his right hand. As if by some supernatural power, a chilling wind suddenly swept across the Chamber of Dark Justice, blowing the blue chalk onto the uniforms of the four grand moffs.

But there was nothing supernatural about the wind. At the push of a hidden b.u.t.ton, Kadann could make a cold breeze blow from any direction inside the chamber. And at the push of another b.u.t.ton, he could make the walls resonate with an echo, giving his voice the sound of greater authority.

"Blue is the color of shame and disgrace," Grand Moff Hissa whispered to Grand Moff Muzzer, who stood alongside him. "This trial will be a total sham, a show and nothing more. It's obvious Kadann has already made up his mind that we're guilty."

"Grand moffssssss," Defeen said with a scowl, pointing a furry, clawed hand at the defendants. "You are charged with breaking your pledgessss of loyalty to Kadann, who is now the ruler of the Empire." Defeen then trained his beady red eyes at Zorba, who was grinning from one side of his huge head to the other. "I have here a sworn statement from Zorba the Hutt stating that you tried to restore to the Imperial throne the disgraced leader, Trioculussssss."

The charges were given, and then the trial began.

In his bedroom in his tower house on Yavin Four, Luke Skywalker could faintly hear the sound of someone turning pages and muttering facts from a science textbook. Ken must be already wide awake, he concluded. Luke had moved an extra floating bed over by the door so that Ken, who was due to go back to school at Dagobah Tech after the wedding of Han and Leia, would have a place to sleep.

Luke opened his eyes and saw Ken sitting up on his floating bed, trying to memorize a list of atomic weights. Then Luke heard the footsteps of someone bounding up the circular stairwell that led to the room at the top of the tower.

A moment later, Princess Leia opened the door a crack and peeked into the room. "Luke, are you awake?" And then she smiled at the Jedi Prince. "Oh, good morning, Ken."

"Hi, Leia," Ken said, then he buried his nose in his atomic element chart.

Leia handed her brother Luke a medical research report. "Luke, SPIN medical specialists have determined how to deal with the mind control implant in Triclops's tooth, and put an end to Kadann's long-distance penetration of Triclops's mind. Our medical staff says that if they had some macaab mushrooms, they could produce a chemical that could deactivate the implant permanently."

Luke tied his robe and slid his feet into the slippers at the side of his floating bed.

"If Triclops isn't actually a spy of his own free will," Luke said, "by destroying the implant, we would then give Triclops a chance to prove he really does oppose the Empire."

"There's one problem," Leia explained. "Macaab mushrooms are extremely rare. The nearest planet where they grow is Arzid."

Ken remembered studying about Arzid-a hot, dense world with macaab mushroom forests everywhere, and large spiderlike creatures called arachnors. Ken closed up his textbook and put away his element chart, thinking to himself how much he had always wanted to see an arachnor.

"Let's go to Arzid, Luke," Ken said. "We could still be back in time for the wedding, couldn't we?"

Luke wasted no time coming to a decision. It was worth the effort to find out if Triclops could be freed of Imperial mind control. After discussing the matter further with Leia and Ken, Luke announced that he would depart with Ken, Artoo-Detoo, See-Threepio, and Chewbacca in a modified Rendili Star Drive Y-wing. Unlike the standard Y-wing s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, which was only big enough for a two-man crew and one astromech droid like Artoo, the modified Rendili Y-wing was large enough for a crew of four.

Princess Leia and Han Solo would stay behind, so they could continue monitoring Triclops.

That would also give Leia an opportunity to send out the last few invitations to their wedding, while Han set up the THX Super-Sound System for the dance that would follow the wedding ceremony. It was a perfect plan-if all went according to schedule.

At s.p.a.ce Station Scardia, the trial of the grand moffs was finally drawing to a conclusion. Kadann's booming voice echoed powerfully. "Grand moffs, you will now plead guilty to disloyalty and treason," he said. "After I accept your guilty pleas, I will listen to your requests for mercy."

"Each in turn now," said Defeen, baring his wolflike fangs. "Make your guilty plea.s.ssss or you will be charged with insssssurection and unlawful resssssistance!"

"Guilty," Grand Moff Thistleborn confessed reluctantly.

"Guilty," Grand Moff Dunhausen agreed.

"Guilty," Grand Moff Muzzer concurred.

"Not guilty," Grand Moff Hissa said. A shocked silence fell upon the Chamber of Dark Justice. "I deserve the respect due to an Imperial war hero," he continued. "I lost my arms and legs in service to you, Kadann, on a mission to Duro, trying to recapture Triclops when he escaped. And I demand that you arrest this lying Hutt who would obviously say anything he thought you wanted to hear!"

"Ssssssilence!" Defeen hissed. "Grand Moff Hissa, we have a file on you that's thissssss thick," Defeen said, holding his clawed hands apart to show the exact thickness. "We have lotssss of evidence against you!"

Kadann turned to the five jurors. "Three grand moffs have pleaded guilty, but Grand Moff Hissa says that he is innocent. I have just written my prophecy of what your verdict on Hissa will be, and I hereby provide it to you. Study it carefully. But do not let my prophecy influence you in any way, because that would be unfair."

"A-haw-haw-haw . . ." Zorba the Hutt laughed.

The jurors opened the sealed envelope and studied Kadann's prophecy. They whispered among themselves for almost a full minute. Then Kadann asked them, "Have you reached a verdict?"

High Prophet Jedgar, as foreman of the jury, stood to his full towering height. He thrust out his chest beneath his glittering black robe, and spoke. "We find Grand Moff Hissa guilty. The grand moffs are all guilty, but we conclude that Hissa is the guiltiest."

"Thank you," Kadann said. "You shall now hear your sentences for treachery! Grand Moff Thistleborn, three years of hard labor in the rock quarries of the scorching planet, Bnach. No prisoner has ever survived the rock quarries for more than a year. Perhaps you will be the first to do so." - Kadann turned his gaze to the next convicted man. "Grand Moff Dunhausen, you're to be sent to the Imperial Correctional Center on the frozen world of Hoth for four years. All prisoners there freeze to death within three years. But you seem like hardy stock. I expect you'll set a new survival record, and when you return, you'll have a better att.i.tude about your duties to the Empire and the Prophets of the Dark Side."

Kadann's gaze moved on down the line of defendants. "Grand Moff Muzzer, you shall serve for five years as the lowly sentry at a small Imperial outpost on the planet Arzid, the planet of macaab mushrooms, tentacle-bushes, and deadly arachnors. Perhaps you shall meet with better fortune than the last sentry, who stumbled into an arachnor web his first month on Arzid and was eaten by those hungry giant spiders."

Kadann now stared at Grand Moff Hissa, who in protest was shaking his head, rattling the chain that fastened his prisoner's collar to his hover-chair. "Grand Moff Hissa, because Zorba the Hutt a.s.sures me that your crimes are more serious than those of your companions, and because you led the plot to return Trioculus to his position of power, I sentence you to die a cruel and unusual death. You shall be starved, and when you are mad and insane with hunger, you shall be served your last meal. It shall be a meal of biscuits that have live parasites baked into them. The parasites will begin eating you from inside the pit of your stomach and will work their way slowly to your outermost layer of flesh."

"A-haw-haw-haw-haw-hawwwww . . . !" Zorba roared, his blubbery body vibrating so much that it shook the entire room like a tremor.

Suddenly Prophet Gornash entered the chamber and whispered to Kadann. "My dear Supreme Prophet Kadann," Gornash began, "it seems that a probe droid has just returned from Yavin Four with information from Triclops. Triclops has just provided us with the precise location of the entrance to the Lost City of the Jedi!"

Kadann smiled. His spy, Triclops, had done well. And all the more impressive given the fact that Triclops didn't even know that he was an Imperial spy!

CHAPTER 5.

Web of Disaster Luke Skywalker disengaged the hyperdrive thrusters of their modified Y-wing s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

Then he and Chewbacca navigated skillfully past the gigantic green fire storms that shot up from the surface of the sun known as Tiki-hava. Those fire storms spread an eerie glow for thousands of miles. When Luke's s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p finally soared past the s.p.a.ce-glow, they could see the gray planet Arzid directly in front of them.

The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p glided to a soft landing in a valley surrounded by giant mushroom forests.

Ken was the first to hurry down the entrance ramp to the soft, spongy ground of the planet.

"Zneeeech Kboooop!" Artoo-Detoo tooted.

"Artoo is right-I suggest you pay attention to where you're walking, Master Ken,"

See-Threepio exclaimed. "Watch out for arachnor webs-they're horribly sticky and rather huge. And keep your eyes to the ground, and beware of tentacle-bushes."

"What's a tentacle-bush?" Ken asked.

"Just like the name suggests," Threepio explained. "A small plant with long, thin tentacles that reach out to s.n.a.t.c.h little rodents."

Luke Skywalker hoisted a portable stun-cannon to his shoulder. "This may prove to be useful if we meet up with any arachnors."

Ken glanced around at the nearby mushroom forest. "Cool!" he exclaimed. "There's macaab mushrooms everywhere up on that hill. Let's go, last one there is a Kowakian monkey-lizard!"

"Wait up, Master Ken!" See-Threepio shouted. But Ken was already far ahead of everyone.

It was also the first time Luke had been in a macaab mushroom forest. He too was quite overwhelmed to see the range of sizes, from the small mushrooms that hugged the ground like little flowers, to the tree-size macaabs that towered high above them.

HISSSSSSSS!.

Ken's heart skipped a beat. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a spidery arachnor twice his size crawling down a huge mushroom.

Luke saw it too, and he began firing his portable stun-cannon as he walked toward the spider. But he didn't notice the thin green tentacle that was slithering along the ground near his right boot. Suddenly the tentacle twisted around Luke's ankle and gave a sharp tug, pulling him to the ground headfirst as his legs slid out from under him. The stun-cannon fell from Luke's hands and slid partway down a steep embankment.

"Groooowwwf!" Chewbacca growled, heading down the embankment to recover the weapon.

But as soon as Chewbacca reached out for the stun-cannon, a spindly tentacle wrapped around his left ankle. The tentacle-bush tightened and squeezed, toppling the big Wookiee right into some th.o.r.n.y shrubs.

"Rooooarrrf!" Chewbacca moaned in protest.

"Well, don't blame me!" Threepio scolded, as he took a few cautious steps down the embankment. "I warned you about those tentacle-bushes-obviously no one was listening."

"Just a second, Chewie," Ken shouted. "I'll get the stun-cannon!"

"Wait, Ken!" Luke yelled.

But Ken didn't wait. He bounded down the slippery embankment. And as he reached for the stun-cannon, he just kept sliding, down and down until he found himself far past the point where Chewbacca had fallen. In fact, Ken slid so far, he brushed up against an arachnor web at the bottom of the hill. Ken stuck to the web like mola.s.ses.

"Hey, get me out of this!" Ken screamed. As he shouted, out of the corner of his eye, Ken could make out a strange tower just beyond the forest at the bottom of the hill.

Back near the top of the hill, Chewbacca, who was covered with p.r.i.c.kly thorns, growled in outrage. "Rowwwooooof!" Chewbacca moaned, unable to loosen the tentacle from his ankle with his big hairy paws.

Luke had more success than Chewbacca. Drawing out his lightsaber, he aimed the green blade of the laser at the tentacle that was still gripping tightly onto his boot. With one swift swing of his blade, Luke sliced the tentacle in two. Then he jumped to his feet and hurried down the embankment to attempt to free Ken and Chewbacca.

"I'll be right back, Chewie," Luke said as he pa.s.sed the big Wookiee and continued down the embankment. "I've got to get to Ken first. Those arachnor webs are like quicksand-the more he struggles, the harder it will be to get him out!"

Luke was right. As Ken wiggled his arms the sticky web seemed to wrap around him like a coc.o.o.n.

"Oh dear, oh my! I knew we never should have come here," See-Threepio complained, keeping his eye sensors trained on Luke, who was now nearly at the bottom of the embankment, alongside Ken.

Suddenly Artoo burst out with a warning. "BDwooEEEEP TWeeEEEG!"

"Watch out, Master Luke!" Threepio translated. "There's an arachnor climbing down the mushroom right behind you!"

Luke drew his lightsaber, and he made a sudden lunge toward the arachnor. Failing to destroy it in the first sweep of his glowing green blade, Luke suddenly felt his movement hindered by a sticky substance-the arachnor was weaving a web around him!

Luke aimed his lightsaber at the arachnor's long, spindly legs, slicing them one by one.

But with every pa.s.sing second, Luke felt his shoulders, then his legs, then both his arms trapped as if he were stuck in glue.

Luke dealt the arachnor a fatal blow, right at the gnawing mouth on the underbelly between its spidery legs. A split second later Luke's lightsaber slipped away from him as his hand became caught in the web. Luke couldn't reach down for it. All he could do was crane his neck upward, to check out a strange sound that was coming from the sky.

FWOOOOOOs.h.!.+.

Standing at the edge of the embankment, See-Threepio saw what Luke heard. The droid glanced up and spotted a s.p.a.cecraft appearing out of the clouds, descending toward a small tower that rose above the mushroom forest.