Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda (6 page)

ZAAAAP!

Green fluid poured out of their beelike eyes, and then, as the beetles reared up, Han blasted their soft underbellies.

Luke pulled out his lightsaber and extended the bright green blade, as the Fefze beetles in front of them lined up one behind the other, charging through the tight, narrow canyon.

CHOPPPPPP!

Luke sliced off the head of the first beetle as it attacked. The next one climbed up on the body of the dead insect, using it as a springboard to leap at Ken.

"Ken, duck!" Luke shouted.

WHOOOOOSH!

Luke’s sizzling lightsaber blade whacked the second giant insect in half, the pieces narrowly missing falling onto Ken. Then Luke cut off the pincers of the third beetle, sliced off its antennae, and zapped it right between its eyes.

"Watch out-up there!" Ken screamed, as another Fefze beetle leapt from an overhanging ledge.

It landed right on top of Luke, trapping his neck in its pincers. As Luke gasped, Ken stood by helplessly, watching in terror.

Han was too busy with the Fefze beetle in front of him to come to Luke’s rescue.

"Oh, dear, oh my, someone’s got to do something to help Master Luke!" Threepio shouted, hopping back and forth from one leg to the other.

Ken overcame his fears for the moment, and suddenly found the courage to grab the insect’s pincers and pull them apart, freeing Luke from their deadly grip.

Having finished off the beetle in front of him, Han then rushed forward and finished off the last of the Fefze beetles with his blaster.

"Wow," said Ken, with a sigh of relief. "I did it, Luke! I saved you!"

"Thanks, Ken," Luke said with relief.

Han smiled. "Good work! In a pinch-you proved yourself a real champ, Ken," he said.

Luke knelt beside the body of one of the giant beetles. "Fefze beetles never grow this large," he mused. "They’ve probably mutated from all of the hazardous wastes on Duro. I’ll bet they were starving because all the creatures they usually eat are dying off."

After climbing over the slimy, oozing bodies of the Fefze beetles blocking the narrow gorge, Luke, Han, Threepio, and Ken finally came upon the hidden entrance to the Valley of Royalty. If they hadn’t known exactly where to look, they never would have located it. It was disguised by a rocky surface, as if it were a natural part of the cliff.

Forcing open the door, they found the stairwell that descended deep into the mountain. The steep steps seemed to go on forever, fading away into the darkness.

After unpacking their portable C-beam strobe lamps, and a sharp descent of at least a thousand steps, they reached a flat tunnel that went directly below the Great Wall.

At the intersection where the passageway divided in two and split off in different directions, Luke stopped to examine the copy he’ had made from Dustini’s hologram of the tunnels.

DRIP . . . DRIP . . . DRIP . . .

Luke looked up. A thick, gooey liquid was dripping through the rocks-right onto his map.

TSSSSSS!

Whatever it was, it burned a hole in the map, eating through the paper quickly! Luke dropped what was left of it on the ground, before any of it got on his hands, and stepped back.

"Uh-oh," Ken said, shining his C-beam lamp on a puddle in front of them.

"The floor of this tunnel is covered with an odorous, gluelike substance," Threepio said, with alarm. "If only Artoo-Detoo were here, he’d be able to tell us the chemical makeup-"

Luke took a whiff of the puddle. "The Empire probably manufactures starship propellants above ground somewhere near here," he said. "My guess is, the chemicals are leaking through the rocks."

Suddenly there was a low rumbling sound.

PAH-BUMMMMMMM!

A blast came from above. The tunnel trembled, shaking violently, as if struck by a huge tremor.

Then the rumbling stopped. Luke, Han, Threepio, and Ken cautiously stepped around the chemical puddle and continued along another wide, underground passageway. Soon they were completely lost. Without their map, they might continue winding through these catacombs forever and never find their way out.

Suddenly Threepio stopped in his tracks. "Excuse me, Master Luke," he said, "but I seem to detect an ultrahigh-frequency sound coming from behind the wall of this tunnel." Threepio touched the tunnel wall. "Why, these aren’t ordinary rocks," he concluded. "It’s just like the camouflage that covered the door up above. There is another door here. And goodness, the sounds I hear are coming from a droid on the other side. He’s trying to communicate!"

"What’s he saying, Threepio?" Luke asked.

"It sounds like a call for help. Oh my, I also detect a human life-form behind the door.

Someone’s trapped!"

Luke touched the rock facing that covered the door, moving his hand along the surface until he felt a piece of jagged rock that was sticking out farther than the rest. He then drew his lightsaber, burning through the piece of rock and exposing a lock mechanism.

Han took out his blaster and fired directly at the lock. Then Han and Luke began pushing the door up together, raising it.

SQUEEEEEEE .. .

They found themselves staring into the face of a tall, thin man dressed in the gray uniform of an Imperial prisoner. His long white hair stuck out in all directions, and he had scorch marks on his temples, as if he had been burned by a laser or electricity. Next to the man was --

"An assassin droid!" Luke shouted, pointing his lightsaber at the dangerous Imperial robot.

"Wait!" the man shouted. "Stop!" The man’s eyes widened, and his eyebrows drew close together. "The droid is unarmed. He won’t harm you. His violence program has been destroyed."

Luke held his lightsaber up very close to the assassin droid’s chest as a warning. "Don’t budge, or my lightsaber will fry your circuits to a crisp," Luke said sternly. Then he glanced at Threepio. "Threepio, check out this droid."

Threepio opened a panel on the assassin droid’s back and carefully inspected its circuits.

"Harmless," Threepio concluded. "Quite harmless. Its circuits that control aggression and violent behavior are damaged, shorted out by a power surge of some kind."

"You see, it’s like I told you, whoever you are," the prisoner explained, "he’s harmless."

"This is Han Solo, this is Ken, and this is our droid, See-Threepio. I’m Commander Luke Skywalker of the Alliance," Luke said, looking the man over carefully.

"Skywalker. That name is not unknown to me. But the Skywalker I heard about was a Jedi Knight."

"I am a Jedi Knight," Luke replied. "We are with the Alliance."

"Then you believe in the Force," the white-haired man said. "I once knew a woman who lived by the ways of the Force. Her name was Kendalina. With bright gray eyes . . ." The man paused, looking directly at Ken. He seemed as though he wanted to say something more but then decided not to.

"What happened to Kendalina?" Ken asked.

"When the Empire discovered Kendalina was a Jedi, they destroyed her. It was a horrible day, burned into my memory forever, like these scars burned into my temples."

"You wear the clothes of an Imperial prisoner," Luke said. "Did you escape?"

"Fortunately, yes," the prisoner replied. "Defeen, the interrogator who questioned me, recommended me for a lobotomy. The Empire wished to make me docile and obedient. But I’ve spoiled their plans, thanks to this assassin droid here. I changed the droid’s programming. Now he is my ally. At my request, he burned off the location forbidder the Empire had fastened to my wrist. Now they can no longer keep track of my every movement."

"Have you seen anyone else down here in these tunnels?" Luke asked. "We were told that there are archaeologists hiding in these caverns beneath the Valley of Royalty."

"Archaeologists, yes," the man replied. "I see everything and everyone, whether in front or behind. It’s why they call me Triclops-for I have three eyes."

"Triclops!" Ken exclaimed. He was both excited and skeptical at the same time.

The man with the white hair turned his head, revealing an eye in the back of his skull-a powerful eye that seemed to send out hypnotic waves, making Ken blink and feel dizzy.

Ken looked away quickly, short of breath.

"He really is Triclops!" the young Jedi Prince exclaimed. "Trioculus only pretended to be the son of Emperor Palpatine. His third eye was on his forehead. But the real son of the Emperor has a third eye on the back of his head, just like you."

"Yes, just like me," Triclops repeated, turning around to face front once again. He looked at Ken with his two front eyes. "I remember Trioculus well. And a merciless slavemaster he was. When I was a patient in the Imperial insane asylum, back in the spice mines of Kessel, he used to whip me. And with every lash of the whip he swore that one day he would assume my identity-once Palpatine died he would convince the entire galaxy that he was the Emperor’s true three-eyed son. Then he would take over as ruler of the Empire!"

"He was the ruler of the Empire for awhile," Ken said. "But now he’s frozen in carbonite and hanging in a museum in Cloud City."

"You know a great deal," Triclops said. Then he reached out and touched the semi-transparent, silvery crystal that Ken wore around his neck. "Who gave this to you?"

he said slowly, with reflection.

Ken backed away, pushing Triclops’s hand from the crystal. "I don’t know. I’ve always had it, ever since I was little."

"Always is a long time, even for someone so young." Triclops pointed to the scars on his temples. "Seems like I’ve always had these. The Empire began shock therapy on me when I was young. But lightning bolts, with energy from the Dark Side, never conquered me. And now I’ve escaped from the Empire at last. With help from this assassin droid, I climbed down the mouth of the monument of Queen Rana. I would have found my way to freedom, but I got trapped down here in these tunnels."

Triclops closed all three of his eyes and began rubbing his temples. Then he opened his eyes and said, "Well, so it’s archaeologists you want, is it? Come, I will lead you to them."

"Or perhaps you intend to lead us into a trap," Luke mused.

"You live by the ways of the Force, don’t you, Jedi?" Triclops said, frowning. "Consult the Force and discover whether I lead you into a trap-or whether I am about to lead you to your goal."

Luke accepted Triclops’s challenge.

As he concentrated on the Force, he felt a feeling of trust; but he also felt confusion rather than certainty.

"Of course you trust me," Triclops said, "I’ve always despised the Empire. The Empire considers me hopelessly insane." Triclops tapped a forefinger against his forehead. "But wanting to destroy the Empire hardly qualifies me as crazy or insane, wouldn’t you agree?"

At that, Triclops and the assassin droid led Luke, Han, Threepio, and Ken on a twisting, winding path through the musty tunnel. Luke kept his guard up the whole way, holding his lightsaber with its blade glowing, ready to use at a moment’s notice.

The group soon emerged into a wide cavern. There they beheld a dazzling display of ancient treasures. A team of thirteen Duro aliens was hard at work. Dustini had said that their group consisted of fifteen archaeologists, including himself. That meant that one of them was unaccounted for, at least for the moment.

Antigravity carts were piled high with crates filled with scrolls, statues, ornaments, vases, jewelry, masks, ancient costumes, coins-every type of relic imaginable. The carts glided smoothly, without any wheels, floating back and forth above the ground.

The work of the archaeologists, however, seemed far from done.

Luke put away his lightsaber. "Greetings from SPIN!" he shouted, stepping out from behind a boulder to reveal himself. Threepio poked his head out next, followed by Han and Ken.

Triclops and his assassin droid remained in the shadows. "Don’t be frightened," Luke continued. "Dustini sent us to rescue you."

Upon hearing Dustini’s name the archaeologists gathered around and activated their translators to communicate. Their gray-skinned faces showed great relief as they listened to Luke’s words.

To Han Solo’s embarrassment, one of the Duro aliens even hugged him.

"Easy does it," Han said. "I’m a Corellian, and we Corellians gave up hugging strangers four centuries ago."

Another archaeologist dropped to his knees, thanking them and shouting praises to Dustini for having sent help. "I’m Dustangle," he explained. "Dustini is my cousin, but he has always been more like a brother to me. We’re grateful he sent you to help us. We must leave our native planet. It has become a wasteland. But we can’t leave our treasures here.

These treasures hold the memories and the history of our people. They must be protected for future generations. They must not fall into the hands of Kadann."

"We’ve landed our transport vehicle in the mountains beyond the Valley of Royalty," Luke explained to Dustangle. "It’s large enough to hold most, if not all of your relics. If you wish, SPIN will protect them at Mount Yoda, on behalf of all Duros, until your people relocate in safety without fear of destruction from the Empire."

They started right away to move the archaeological treasures down the tunnel. The antigravity carts were designed so that they could be gently pushed up the winding stairs that led to the planet’s surface.

Everyone helped-Triclops and the assassin droid, and even See-Threepio pitched in.

After lifting a crate onto one of the carts, Ken accidentally knocked over a small emerald box containing a collection of ancient rings. Han helped pick up the jewelry and put it back in its case.

Dustangle noticed a ring that Han left behind. He reached down to pick it up.

"It’s an ancient wedding ring," Dustangle explained, handing it to Han. "It belonged to a Corellian Princess who was a friend of our Queen Rana. You’re a Corellian who’s come to save us, so from now on, the ring shall belong to you. Please accept it as a sign of our gratitude. Perhaps some day you’ll give it to the one you love, on the day that you get married."

Han blushed. "Marriage isn’t exactly in my plans right at the moment," he explained, "but, well . . . who knows?"