Jedi Prince_ Prophets Of The Dark Side Part 4

In a moment, Ken saw the face of a beautiful, dark-haired woman on the computer screen.

"Kendalina was a Jedi Princess who was captured by Imperials," Kadann explained. "She was forced to pledge allegiance to the Empire, and she was a.s.signed to work for many years as an Imperial nurse on the planet Kessel, deep in the spice mines."

Now the screen showed a picture of the building in the spice mines where Kendalina worked: The Imperial Insane Asylum of Kessel.

"That's where she met the man who became your father, Ken," Dee-Jay interrupted. "He was an Imperial prisoner, considered insane because he said he was a pacifist who believed in disarmament instead of war. He has three eyes. Two at the front of his head. One at the back."

"This is your father-" Kadann revealed. Suddenly the screen showed a portrait of Triclops!

Ken felt his heart skip several beats as his throat constricted.

"You inherited many of your mother's features, Ken," Dee-Jay explained. "You have a natural talent for the Jedi arts and skills, like she did. You have her brown hair and her eyes. Fortunately, you didn't inherit your father's gene for a third eye, and you weren't born a mutant like he was. Now you know that you really do have Jedi blood in your veins-but you are also descended from the royal blood of the Empire!"

Ken's arms, limp and drained of all strength, dropped to his sides.

"Behold-your grandfather!" Kadann declared.

On the screen Ken saw the image of Emperor Palpatine, sitting on a throne in the Death Star, the Emperor's face looking twisted, tortured, and evil.

"It can't be true!" Ken exclaimed. "Please, no, it isn't true!"

Losing control of his emotions, Ken struck the old, metal droid, pounding on Dee-Jay's chest and screaming out, "No, no . . ."

Dee-Jay calmly gripped Ken's wrists, saying sternly, "Be still! Why do you think you were brought to us, Ken? Because your mother wanted you to have a chance to overcome your grandfather's ways of darkness and evil. That's why we were chosen to raise you," Dee-Jay explained, "so that, under the guidance and teaching of the caretaker droids of the Lost City, your Jedi heritage could win out over the Dark Side that is also a part of your heritage."

"I've heard enough from that droid," Kadann declared. "Deactivate him!"

"NOOOOO!" Ken screamed.

But the Imperial intelligence agent opened a panel in Dee-Jay's back and swiftly deactivated him, leaving the old droid motionless and silent.

Miles above, on the surface of Yavin Four, Luke Skywalker, who was being held under armed guard in a chamber aboard the Scardia Voyager, finally felt that the effects of the stun-beam had worn off. Himself once again, Luke sensed a disturbance in the Force. The disturbance seemed to be coming from deep within the fourth moon of Yavin. It was a terrible feeling, a gnawing sensation that hinted at catastrophe for the Lost City. Then, as he closed his eyes and concentrated deeply, Luke intuitively realized that his sister, Princess Leia, was nearby. Surely that meant that an Alliance rescue mission was approaching.

Now that the stun-beam had worn off, Luke knew that the time had come for him to make his move. The first step was to free his hands from the Imperial wrist-cuffs that bound him.

It took a little longer than usual, but Luke was able to put himself in total harmony with the Force, focusing his concentration on the metal lock at his wrists. Slowly the metal parts within the lock began to move.

CLIIIICK!.

His hands were free! Luke concentrated now on clouding the minds of his captors.

"You lazy fools," Luke said to the armed guards. "Where is my tea that I asked for half an hour ago?"

"What tea?" the stormtrooper in charge asked.

"When Kadann asks for tea, he expects tea!" Luke demanded, using the old Jedi mind trick that his master Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi had taught him. "Do you think the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side likes to be kept waiting?"

"Of course not, Kadann," the stormtrooper apologized. He then turned to a companion. "How come you haven't brought Kadann his tea?"

It was working! Luke pushed harder, clouding the minds of every guard in the room and placing them in a state of extreme mental confusion.

"Never mind, I'll get it myself," Luke said. "Open the door and stay here."

"Yes, Kadann!" the stormtrooper in charge replied.

As the door was unlocked for him, Luke sensed that something was luring him toward a room three doors down the cold, gray hallway. Was danger awaiting him from that room? He quieted his mind and discovered that it was a sensation of attraction, not repulsion. He had nothing to fear from whatever was inside.

Quietly and quickly, Luke slid open the door. There his eyes were greeted by display cases containing some of Kadann's most priceless captured relics. And in the center was a new addition to this little museum of valuables. The sign above the display case read: LUKE SKYWALKER'S LIGHTSABER. And then, in smaller letters: THIS IS THE LIGHTSABER THAT CUT OFF THE RIGHT HAND OF DARTH VADER INSIDE THE IMPERIAL DEATH STAR.

Luke reached out his hand, beckoning the lightsaber to come toward him, just as he had once done on the ice-planet Hoth inside the cave of a Wampa creature.

The lightsaber rattled on its small stand, then struck the inside of the gla.s.s case, splintering it. As Luke concentrated even harder, the lightsaber once again smashed against the gla.s.s, then flew past the sharp jagged edges of broken gla.s.s and zoomed toward his outstretched hand. Drawn toward him by a mysterious mental magnetic attraction that only a Jedi Knight could understand, the lightsaber was soon in his grasp.

Luke turned it on, its glowing green blade stretching outward to defend him. Then Luke reentered the hall and crouched behind the large, rectangular engine-cooling module. He glanced toward the rear of the Scardia Voyager, certain that the Alliance a.s.sault would come in any second from that direction.

Luke was right! A Rebel Alliance a.s.sault team moved a garrison of equipment into position, creating an ion force field to s.h.i.+eld themselves against the weapons of the Scardia Voyager. Led by Alliance leader Mon Mothma, and Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, See-Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo, the Rebels used a captured Imperial TNT-a treaded neutron torch to punch a gaping hole in the aft of the golden Imperial s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Then the Alliance staged a lightning charge.

Luke joined the action, working his way through the Scardia Voyager, using his lightsaber to swiftly defeat every stormtrooper who stood in his way. The Prophets of the Dark Side on board were quickly overpowered.

"Luke, that's the last time we send you out after macaab mushrooms," Han said, when they were safely outside the s.h.i.+p. "That was supposed to be a quick and easy trip, remember?"

"How did you find me?" Luke asked, giving his sister Leia a hug.

"A rather simple computation," the familiar voice of See-Threepio chimed in, as the golden droid came over to greet his master. "Artoo and I freed Chewbacca from the tentacle-bush after you and Ken were captured. Chewbacca then flew us back from that mushroom planet. We watched as the Imperial command speeder took you to the Scardia Voyager, and we continued tracking you all the way to Yavin Four, sending the coordinates on your flight movements back to SPIN!"

"Groooaaawwwwf!" Chewbacca moaned, congratulating himself on his contribution to their valiant rescue.

"BdoobzOOOp!" Artoo-Detoo added, popping out from behind the captured Imperial TNT. He spun his dome back and forth, demonstrating his enthusiasm at seeing Luke.

"Excellent work, Chewie-and you droids did a good job too!" Luke exclaimed. "But our work isn't finished yet. Kadann has gone down into the Lost City of the Jedi, and he has Ken hostage!"

Luke led his friends to the nearby green, circular marble wall. He attempted to operate the tubular transport, trying to make it depart from down in the Lost City and come to the surface again. But the controls didn't respond.

"At this rate, we'll never get down there to rescue Ken," Han Solo said.

"I have an idea!" Luke exclaimed. They hurried back to the captured Imperial TNT. Luke climbed inside, searching. Finally he came out, holding a long gray canister. He opened it, revealing a protective outfit that was designed as a heat s.h.i.+eld. It even included a helmet. "Han, the climate of this planet is controlled by steam vents, remember? Those vents go from down in the Lost City all the way up to the surface. If I can't get down the tubular transport, then I'll slide down a steam vent-wearing this!" Luke held up the heat-resistant clothing. "I'll end up in the Lost City, at the Weather and Climate Control Center," Luke added excitedly.

"Sounds crazy to me," Han said.

"Totally crazy," Princess Leia agreed.

"But it's our only hope," Luke replied confidently. "We don't have any other choice!"

With help from Artoo-Detoo, whose heat sensors could detect steam from far away, they located the nearest steam vent deep in the jungle. Then they removed the grating that covered it.

When Luke peered down into the endless hole, he started to have second thoughts about his plan. He knew that Hologram Fun World had a ride through a black tube that twisted its way through a mile of darkness. But scary as that ride was, it was more like a slide. However, Luke realized that this ride would be more like a tumbling fall-and straight down for most of the way, with only the clouds of rising, hot steam to slow his descent!

Luke didn't want to go through with it. But then he thought of Ken. And a moment later, he closed his eyes, held his breath, and made the leap!

When Luke opened his eyes, he couldn't see the steam, but he could feel and hear it through his heat-protection outfit. The steam hissed and pushed against him like a blast of scalding air, as he plunged into the endless darkness.

"You have great potential in the Dark Side, Ken," Kadann said to the boy, as Ken stared sadly at Dee-Jay's darkened eyes. "I can see that now. The Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side can never be wrong. But perhaps once .

. . just once . I did make an error. That was when I urged Trioculus to find and destroy you. I know now that through your blood-the blood of Emperor Palpatine-you will one day lead the future generations of the Empire!"

"Never!" Ken declared firmly.

"Seize him!" Kadann ordered, gesturing to two stormtroopers who promptly overpowered Ken.

They took Ken out of the Jedi Library and dragged him up the path as he kicked and struggled.

Kadann turned to his intelligence agent. "Is it possible to remove the data files?"

"Removing the data chips from the master computer would destroy the Jedi files and all the information they contain."

"Then lift the master computer itself and take it to the tubular transport," Kadann ordered. "With that computer relocated to s.p.a.ce Station Scardia, all of the secrets of the Jedi will then belong to me!"

Kadann's stormtroopers prepared to transport the computer on a large, floating antigravity cart.

"Shut this city down," Kadann hissed. "Its final hour has come at last."

The Imperials departed from the library and headed back toward the tubular transport, deactivating everything in sight, silencing every last droid and machine of the Lost City.

With every street Kadann pa.s.sed, the lights went out, and the cavern dimmed a little more.

Suddenly Kadann was startled to see the Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, standing in the path, blocking their way. How was this possible, Kadann wondered, when Luke was Kadann's prisoner on board the Scardia Voyager?

"Let the boy go, Kadann," Luke said, brandis.h.i.+ng his lightsaber.

"Luke!" Ken screamed.

Kadann took a few steps backward as the blade swung toward him. The stormtroopers who were holding Ken stepped back too, as Ken struggled to loosen himself from their grasp.

"I said let the boy go!" Luke repeated. "Now!"

Kadann was startled, not understanding how Luke could have possibly reached the Lost City.

The tubular transport had remained at the bottom of the shaft ever since Kadann had arrived.

Just then Luke charged a group of stormtroopers, freeing Ken and taking the boy with him.

As they ran, Ken spotted his stunned pet, Zeebo the mooka. Ken stopped just long enough to pick Zeebo up and carry him off. Laserfire from portable Imperial laser cannons streaked past Luke and Ken, as they swiftly slipped away toward the tubular transport.

"Master," Prophet Gornash called out to Kadann, "all that matters is the Jedi computer.

Let's forget the Rebels for now and take it to the tubular transport, and depart!"

But as the computer was moved, one of the stormtroopers, firing his portable laser cannon after Ken and Luke, accidentally let loose with a blast that zoomed right toward Kadann.

Kadann moved quickly out of the path of danger. The laserblast struck the master Jedi computer instead, imploding the data screen and melting the main controls.

"NOOOO!" Kadann shouted.

Meanwhile the stormtroopers continued to shut down the power in the Lost City, which became darker and darker.

Soon the only light remaining came from streaks of random laserfire, and the glow from inside the tubular transport as it began traveling toward the surface with Luke, Ken, and Zeebo safely inside.

CHAPTER 7.

The Red Carpet For a moment Luke and Ken were silent, and the only noise was the sound of the tubular transport rising at an incredibly fast speed. Then Ken spoke.

"Triclops is my father, Luke," Ken said in dismay. "I know it now."

"How do you know that?" Luke asked in a shocked but calm, steady voice.

"Kadann used the Jedi computer to show me my mother and father," Ken explained. "This means I'm also the grandson of Emperor Palpatine. Dee-Jay knew the secret all along, and he never told me!" The boy paused to choke down his tears. "So now you know the terrible truth. You now know where I come from-from evil."

"You're forgetting that my father was Darth Vader," Luke replied, staring into Ken's troubled eyes. "He too was devoted to evil. But the good in him survived deep within his heart, and at the very end of his life, it won out."

"All this time I thought . . . I hoped that my father would turn out to be Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi," Ken said, glancing down. "But instead-this is the worst news I could have heard, Luke. I don't deserve to be part of the Rebel Alliance."

"The fact that my father chose a path of evil is no reflection on me," Luke explained. "It doesn't mean that I'm any less of a person, or any less of a man. Unlike my father, I proved myself strong enough to resist the lure of the Dark Side. And you've got to prove yourself strong enough to do the same too."

"And what if I'm not strong enough?" Ken asked.

"You will be," Luke replied. "Ken, no one is responsible for who their parents are. Or their grandparents. The choices they made in their lives are their own. But the choices we make are our own. We can't blame ourselves for the evil that our parents and grandparents did-only for what we do. And so it's up to each of us to make the right choices in life, to trust in the Force, and become the person that we know we should be."

Ken could feel Zeebo's little heart thumping as he held his four-eared pet in his arms.

The speed of the tubular transport was awesome. Ken felt as if his stomach had been left far below, and he tingled from his ears to his toes.

But suddenly the tubular transport started to vibrate furiously. Then it slowed to a dead stop halfway up the elevator shaft.

The power had failed. They were trapped.

At the Senate building on Yavin Four, before Triclops could be given the special chemical made from the macaab mushroom, something strange overcame him. Triclops sat down to write a letter, but when he was done, he suddenly changed from a pa.s.sive and gentle person to an angry maniac with superhuman strength.

Triclops's guards were in shock as he demonstrated an awesome power-a power they had never seen before. He tore their laser pistols from their hands, crushed the weapons, and picked the guards up and hurled them, smas.h.i.+ng them against the laboratory wall.

Then Triclops bent the bars of two security doors and forced his way through them.

The tubular transport hadn't moved another inch, and Luke, Ken, and Zeebo were still surrounded by darkness, unable to escape.