Read Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda Online

Authors: Paul Davids,Hollace Davids

Tags: #Action & Adventure, #Juvenile Fiction, #Science Fiction; Fantasy; Magic, #Fiction, #Science Fiction, #General

Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda (2 page)

BOOK: Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda
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Inspecting the interior of the well-armored combat vehicle, Luke found a small pouch filled with what seemed to be the personal possessions of an Imperial trooper: identification, a combat service medal, a personal hygiene kit, and a small gold knife.

Luke also found several data discs. One of them was labeled with a triple "S."

Luke recognized the symbol immediately. "It stands for Space Station Scardia," he said with certainty.

"Scardia!" Ken exclaimed. He knew all about the space station from a master computer file in the library of the Lost City of the Jedi. "I wonder what kind of trouble Kadann and his Prophets of the Dark Side are up to now."

Luke and Han deactivated the vehicle’s weapons; then they took the pouch and data discs with them as they headed back to Princess Leia and the droids. With the discovery of the Imperial Compact Assault Vehicle, their time for relaxing on the beach had come to an abrupt end.

Together they blasted off as Han piloted the Millennium Falcon into hyperspace.

Luke glanced over at Ken, who was sitting next to him in the spaceship’s navigation room.

The previous morning, Luke had broken the news to Ken that he would have to start going to school. That meant that very soon Ken would no longer be free to fly from planet to planet with Luke and the others, helping the Alliance. Luke could tell the Jedi Prince was depressed, because the boy was unusually quiet.

Luke turned his attention to the information on the captured data disc. He quickly discovered that the disc contained recent Imperial propaganda, dispatched from Space Station Scardia to the Imperial troops in the field. And the most significant propaganda, as far as Luke was concerned, was the list of the latest prophecies of Supreme Imperial Prophet Kadann.

"What does Kadann predict is going to happen to the Alliance in our war against the Empire?" Ken asked curiously, as he glimpsed the information on the data disc.

"No Imperial prophet has ever predicted that the Alliance would survive even this long,"

Luke explained, "so I certainly don’t accept anything that Kadann has to say about the future. Besides, Yoda taught me that even though you may be able to glimpse the future through the Force, the future can change before it arrives. He said, ’Always in motion is the future.’"

"Still," Han commented, "lots of Imperials believe every word Kadann speaks-and some of them will do almost anything to try to make his prophecies come true. He can’t be dismissed so easily."

Returning from lightspeed, the Falcon finally slowed and banked, soaring through Dagobah’s misty atmosphere. Pilot Han Solo flew the spaceship toward the very peak of Mount Yoda, the highest point on the swamp-covered planet.

From afar, Luke could make out lights at the mountaintop. They were the lights from the Rebel Alliance military center-a metallic fortress with more than a dozen levels, and hundreds of beaming, glowing signals to guide friendly spacecraft through the ever-present clouds.

The fortress was DRAPAC, short for the Defense Research and Planetary Assistance Center.

DRAPAC was also the site of Dagobah Tech, the Rebel Alliance school where Ken was about to begin classes.

As the Millennium Falcon surged through the mist of Dagobah, Han Solo and his copilot, Chewbacca, steered an even course toward Mount Yoda’s peak.

"How did Mount Yoda get its name, anyway?" Ken asked.

"We used to call it Mount Dagger," Luke explained, "but after Yoda died, it seemed appropriate to rename it in his memory, since this is the planet where he lived."

Luke sighed, feeling a lump in his throat. Every time he returned to Dagobah, memories of Yoda and the swamps where Yoda had trained him to become a Jedi Knight flashed through his mind.

Yoda may have been small in size, but he was mighty in wisdom. Although Luke felt that Yoda was always nearby in spirit, the galaxy was just not the same anymore without him.

The Millennium Falcon gently touched down on its docking bay. Moments later, the ragtag troop of the Alliance departed the spaceship.

"It’s so good to be back among friends," said See-Threepio, looking forward to a soothing oil and lube job. "Here at DRAPAC, a droid never has to worry about being taken apart by vicious Imperials and sold for scrap metal-or worse yet, melted down and made into gun barrels for Imperial ion cannons."

Ken looked around with wide-eyed wonder at everything Princess Leia showed him. She explained that the fortress was still not finished. The lower levels, buried deep inside Mount Yoda, were still being fitted with new laboratories.

According to Luke, the Alliance was pursuing its most top-secret project in one of those labs, safe from spies and the probe droids of the Empire. Its code name was Project Decoy.

The newly arrived members of the Rebel Alliance, as well as other members of SPIN, entered the banquet hall for a welcoming feast arranged by the Alliance leader, Mon Mothma. In the meantime, See-Threepio, Artoo-Detoo, Chip, and Kate went directly to the Droid Maintenance Shop to be oiled, lubricated, and polished.

SPIN, the Senate Planetary Intelligence Network, had until recently been based on Yavin Four, the jungle planet where the Lost City of the Jedi was located deep underground.

However, Imperial attacks on the fourth moon of Yavin had caused Mon Mothma to select an alternate base to locate DRAPAC. The Empire had yet to mount a successful assault on the misty planet Dagobah, which was covered with marshes, bogs, swamps-and the steep and treacherous Mount Yoda.

Mon Mothma congratulated Luke Skywalker for returning with a data disc containing the latest prophecies of Kadann. Now they could study the prophecies at last.

Princess Leia read one of them aloud, as the assembled eagerly tried to interpret it.

When the dragon pack,

Perched upon Yoda’s stony back,

Receives a visitor pierced by gold,

Then come the last days of the Rebel Alliance.

"When Kadann talks about Yoda’s stony back, he must mean Mount Yoda," Leia offered.

"And I’m sure that the words ’dragon pack’ refer to DRAPAC," Luke explained.

"What I don’t understand," said Mon Mothma, "is what Kadann means when he talks about us receiving a visitor pierced by gold."

"Perhaps it has something to do with this," said Luke, opening the small pouch where he kept the data disc. "This contains a few personal possessions left behind by the missing Imperial pilot of the Compact Assault Vehicle."

Luke withdrew a small, sharp golden knife from the pouch. "I wonder if it’s a warning that a visitor to DRAPAC is going to be pierced by this," he said, holding the knife up. Its golden blade gleamed in his blue eyes.

CHAPTER 3

The Scheme of the Grand Moffs

In Cloud City on the planet Bespin, the new Baron Administrator, Zorba the Hutt, slept restlessly.

In his fitful sleep the giant slug saw a vision of the deserts of Tatooine. And in his vision, amidst the swirling sands, he saw the empty, deserted palace that he had inherited from his son, Jabba.

In Zorba’s dream, sharp-toothed Ranats were tearing the inside of the palace to shreds.

Suddenly the dream changed, as if Zorba was seeing the palace in the future. It had become a modern, interplanetary prison, an armed fortress where criminals from many different planets were sent for punishment and execution. Their deaths were fearsome-they were thrown into the Pit of Carkoon, where the Mouth of Sarlacc was buried in the sand, ready and eager to swallow its victims alive. The line of criminals stretched for miles, and for each one Zorba collected a fee.

Zorba awoke with a start, knowing at once that he would have to set to work immediately if he were to turn his dream into a profit-making reality. He was confident that the Cloud Police would keep order in Cloud City while he traveled to Tatooine.

However, only a few hours after Zorba’s departure, Muskov, the Chief of the Cloud Police, sent a message to an Imperial strike cruiser that was orbiting high above Cloud City. The arrival of the Imperial spaceship was a signal that it was time for the chief to put into action the plan of the grand moffs, who wanted to rescue Trioculus from the Cloud City Museum and put him back on the throne of the Empire.

In the dark of night, a small, unmarked shuttle flew out of the strike cruiser and descended to Cloud City. Upon its arrival a small team of Imperial stormtroopers swiftly climbed out of the shuttle and proceeded to the back of a floating freight truck. When they arrived at the museum, the armed guards at the door allowed them to enter without incident.

The stormtroopers and Chief Muskov met by the wall where the body of Trioculus, encased in carbonite, was standing on display like a work of art. The stormtroopers paid the agreed-upon bribe. Then, silently and efficiently, the Imperial stormtroopers took the carbonite block and loaded it into the back of their floating freight truck.

Under cover of darkness, in a guarded hangar, they transferred the carbonite block to the inside of their shuttle. Then they blasted off, taking the carbonized body of their Imperial leader to Grand Moff Hissa, who was awaiting their arrival inside the strike cruiser.

"Excellent!" said Grand Moff Hissa excitedly, as he beheld the carbonite block. Of all the grand moffs, Hissa was the one who had most devotedly schemed and plotted to put Slavelord Trioculus on the throne of the Empire. He gnashed his razor-sharp teeth gleefully as the carbonite block was presented to him in the master chamber of the strike cruiser. "At last we shall restore Trioculus! The moment draws near! Prepare to thaw out our Dark Lordship!"

he proclaimed, pointing to the nearby flux-field generator, a device used for melting solid carbonite.

At that moment, however, the Scardia Voyager, the spaceship that belonged to the Prophets of the Dark Side, flew directly alongside the Imperial strike cruiser. It beamed a message to Grand Moff Hissa from High Prophet Jedgar. "Make arrangements for docking. We are sending a boarding party immediately to personally deliver a message from Supreme Prophet Kadann."

Grand Moff Hissa admitted the boarding party, knowing full well that no Imperial, from the ranks of grand moff all the way down to ranger sixth class, had ever refused a request from the Prophets of the Dark Side. And that was because the spies of Kadann were everywhere. And Kadann’s spies permitted no insult or offense to go unnoticed for very long.

"I present to you an official order from Supreme Prophet Kadann," High Prophet Jedgar began with a crafty smile. "You are to turn over the carbonite block containing the body of Trioculus to me."

"But my dear High Prophet Jedgar," Grand Moff Hissa protested, "the flux-field generator is already heated, ready to melt the carbonite and free Trioculus from his torment. Surely Kadann wouldn’t wish our Emperor Trioculus to continue suffering in that horrid frozen state of suspended animation."

"Perhaps you’ve been inside the Moffship so long that you’ve lost touch with reality,"

High Prophet Jedgar said with a sneer. "Kadann no longer accepts Trioculus as our Emperor."

"But that is treason!" Grand Moff Hissa insisted, his face growing red with anger. "Kadann has never attempted to overthrow an Emperor before!"

"I must inform you," Jedgar continued with a snicker, "that there is no place whatsoever in Kadann’s plans for Trioculus. Nor shall there be for you, unless you kneel at once and pledge your undying loyalty to Kadann as your only true leader!"

"My dear Jedgar, we have procedures to be followed in the Empire," Grand Moff Hissa replied, biting on the nail of his forefinger distractedly. "If Kadann feels that it’s his duty to take command, then let him summon the Central Committee of Grand Moffs and ask us to agree to his-"

"Perhaps Kadann doesn’t think as highly of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs as you do," High Prophet Jedgar interrupted, stroking his beard. "Perhaps you hasten the day when he’ll decide that he no longer has a use for any grand moffs at all!"

"Perhaps you hasten the day," Grand Moff Hissa retorted, clenching his razor-sharp teeth,

"when the Imperial grand moffs shall decide that we have no use for the Prophets of the Dark Side."

High Prophet Jedgar scowled, then his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "But before that day comes, Grand Moff Hissa," he said, "you would be arrested as a traitor. Perhaps you don’t realize what damaging information Kadann has on you. Yours is the thickest file of all the grand moffs. I’ve brought you one page of it, so that you may reconsider your situation."

At that, Jedgar reached into his robe, withdrew a folded piece of paper, and handed it to Hissa.

As Hissa unfolded the page and read it, his eyes bulged and his breath quickened. Beads of sweat formed on his brow.

"How . . . how could he possibly know any of this?" Hissa stammered. "He can’t prove a thing."

"We have witnesses, my dear Hissa," Jedgar said with a coy smile. "If Kadann reveals your file to the Imperial Security Forces, your execution is assured. You’ll be thrown to a wild, raving Rancor beast to be eaten alive, or-"

"I deny these charges!" Grand Moff Hissa exclaimed. His eyes blinked rapidly, like the eyes of a trapped Ranat about to die.

"Deny it all you like. It will make no difference. And you’ve only seen one page.

Remember, your file is this thick," High Prophet Jedgar said, spreading his hands out about a foot apart.

His voice suddenly choked, and Grand Moff Hissa couldn’t even reply.

"All this unpleasantness can be so easily avoided," Jedgar continued, baring his upper teeth as he sneered. "Just accept Kadann as leader of the Empire. Bend your right knee to the floor, and profess your loyalty to Kadann, your master until the end of time!"

Hissa’s legs trembled. His right knee seemed to fall away beneath him, until it struck the cold metal floor.

"Kadann is my . . . master," Grand Moff Hissa said. "Until the . . . the end of time. . .

."

Jedgar scratched his bearded chin calmly. "Very good, my grand moff. Your pledge of loyalty to Kadann comes not a moment too soon. We have a job to do on the planet Duro.

BOOK: Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda
12.88Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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