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 (7 page)

BOOK: Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda
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Han winked, then pocketed the ring thoughtfully.

Above ground, inside the Imperial Reprogramming Institute, piercing red eyes shone brightly from the wolflike face of Defeen.

Defeen, the Imperial interrogator, held several truth needles tightly between his vicious yellow claws.

He drooled with excitement. In just a few moments the Empire would learn once and for all the exact location where the archaeologists were hiding underground. And then perhaps Defeen would be considered for yet another promotion. The Defel alien relished the thought of gaining more power within the Empire, hopefully one day leaving the Imperial Reprogramming Institute for a truly important position, perhaps one at Emperor Kadann’s side.

"Sssssssspeak!" Defeen hissed, baring his white fangs at the Duro archaeologist fastened to the interrogation table. "You will ssssssspeak!"

The Duro archaeologist had been captured by Imperial intelligence agents when he had tried to escape the planet, like Dustini. Although his situation looked grim, he was determined not to betray his people.

"Evvvvverything! You will tell me evvvverything about where your friends are hiding!"

The Empire had heard stories about the cavern that was hidden deep beneath the Valley of Royalty-but where could it be exactly? And how could they find it?

The archaeologist refused to speak.

"All riiiiiiight, then . . ."

With that, Defeen pushed two needles into the truth centers of his victim’s brain.

The archaeologist gasped and closed his eyes, shaking his head back and forth. But the truth needles were too powerful. "Through the mouth of Queen Rana’s Face, a tunnel down to the catacombs . . . the cavern, seventeen paces to the left of the face .. . fifteen standard units beneath the ground . . . that’s where they’ve collected the relics of Duro

. . ."

"So you talk at lasssssst!" Defeen said, with a sneer.

Without delay the Imperials moved a powerful device resembling a giant drill to a position seventeen paces to the left of Queen Rana’s face. Known as a zenomach, the ground-boring machine was set to plunge fifteen standard units beneath the Valley of Royalty.

ZIIIIIIIIIIICH!

The ground nearly disintegrated under the force of the powerful zenomach. Rocks crumbled, dirt swirled, and a hole began to appear, large enough for Imperial stormtroopers to descend into the catacombs below.

RUMMMMMMMMMBLE .. .

The ground shook furiously as the zenomach unexpectedly set off forceful ground tremors.

It was a large quake that reached 77.88 on the Imperial quake scale.

When the tremors stopped, High Prophet Jedgar glanced down into the hole in the ground. He could clearly see that fifteen standard units below they had broken through the roof of a cavern. Light streamed through the hole, glinting off some golden relics. It was just a hint of the many treasures down below, but Jedgar couldn’t wait to take them back to Space Station Scardia and add them to Kadann’s already enormous collection.

High Prophet Jedgar grabbed hold of one of the ladders attached to a flex-mount. The flex-mount instantly lowered twistable ladders into a deep hole, allowing entry into otherwise inaccessible areas.

The Imperials began to descend, with Grand Moff Hissa and High Prophet Jedgar following close behind the first exploratory force of stormtroopers.

Luke, Han, and the Duro archaeologists counterattacked, and a battle ensued.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim, golden glow of the archaeologists’ cavern, High Prophet Jedgar spied Ken. Noticing the silvery crystal the boy wore on a chain around his neck, Jedgar wondered whether this was the Jedi Prince whom Trioculus had failed to find and destroy. According to legend, the Jedi Prince wore a dome-shaped birthstone on a necklace chain, and he had worn it all his life-ever since the boy was first taken to the Lost City of the Jedi to be raised by droids.

"Take that boy hostage, Hissa-at once!" Jedgar demanded.

Grand Moff Hissa clutched Ken.

"Let go of me!" the Jedi Prince shouted, as Hissa pressed a laserblaster against the boy’s chin. Ken stopped squirming and held very still.

"Good work, Hissa," Jedgar said.

Hearing Ken’s shout for help, Luke Skywalker hurriedly pushed two stormtroopers aside and pointed his lightsaber at the grand moff, ready to put an end to Hissa as swiftly as he had destroyed the attacking giant Fefze beetles.

"Drop your weapon, or I’ll destroy the boy-now!" Grand Moff Hissa exclaimed.

Luke hesitated. The grand moff tightened his grip on his laserblaster.

"Now, Skywalker!" High Prophet Jedgar demanded, reinforcing Hissa’s order.

Beads of sweat ran down Luke’s brow as he retracted his lightsaber and dropped the weapon to the ground.

"Very good, Skywalker," Hissa said, gnashing his pointed teeth. "Now prepare to join your master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the world beyond!"

Breathing fast, Ken’s mind was spinning with confusion and fear. Locked in Grand Moff Hissa’s tight grasp, Ken saw Triclops glancing out from behind a boulder, looking at him intently and nodding. Triclops suddenly turned his head around and stared at Grand Moff Hissa with the eye at the back of his skull. An incredibly strong magnetic force seemed to flow out of Triclops’s third eye, as a power beam tugged at Hissa.

Overcome by surprise, the grand moff loosened his grip on Ken. He was yanked off his feet and violently pulled toward Triclops.

Triclops quickly spun around to face Hissa, grabbing the grand moff by the neck and knocking the blaster out of his hand. Hissa tried to bite Triclops with his razor-sharp teeth, but Triclops squeezed with his long fingers, causing Hissa to gasp and choke.

"You won’t let a pacifist live in peace," Triclops scolded sternly. "You’re forcing me to abandon my principles."

RUMMMMMMMMMBLE!

The cavern swayed as another tremor struck.

KRAAAAAAAAKK!

High above them the dam, looming beyond the Valley of Royalty, split under the force of the latest quake. A lake of thick, fuming liquid burst through the cracked dam, flowing and oozing across the valley like a foul-smelling tidal wave.

The rapids raced across the ground, quickly arriving at the hole the zenomach had bored.’

As the gooey, hazardous liquids poured into the hole, Triclops released his grip on Hissa.

The grand moff crumpled onto the ground, and Triclops retreated from his victim. With the eye in the back of his head, Triclops saw that Grand Moff Hissa, now screaming and grasping for help, lay directly in the path of the bubbling, burning liquid.

TSSSSSSSS . . .

Acid flowed over Grand Moff Hissa’s legs. Hissa thrashed helplessly, trying to remove himself from the path of the dangerous chemicals. "Ahhhhhhhrrrrrgggh!" the grand moff screamed. "Help, Jedgar, help!"

Hissa tried to prop himself up, but his arms slid right into the toxic chemicals.

"NOOOOOOO, Jedgarrrrr!" he cried at the top of his lungs.

Grand Moff Hissa’s arms began to melt. "Don’t leave me here to die!" he shouted.

Ken covered his eyes but peeked through his closed fingers to look at Hissa one last time.

There was little left of Hissa’s arms and legs, though the grand moff’s head, chest, and waist still twisted and writhed on the cavern floor.

High Prophet Jedgar was more concerned about saving his own life than in assisting what little was left of Grand Moff Hissa. As the toxic liquid spread through the cavern and surged like floodwaters into the tunnels, Jedgar fled, followed by Imperial stormtroopers who were still firing at Luke and Han. The stormtroopers broke ranks and scattered.

Triclops’s assassin droid was struck by a blast from a stormtrooper’s portable laser cannon. His metal parts shattered, hurled everywhere from the cavern ceiling to the craggy floor.

Riding antigravity carts through the tunnels, Luke, Han, Ken, Threepio, Triclops, and the Duro archaeologists finally reached the stairwell, in advance of the deadly flow. The crates with relics were then hastily transported up the tunnel stairwell inside the mountain, all the way to the surface where they were to be stowed aboard the transport ship.

"I’ve got a really bad feeling about this," Han said, as he suddenly realized that the transport ship was no longer where they had left it.

"Oh dear, perhaps some Imperials ambushed the ship and took it, with Princess Leia and Chewbacca inside," Threepio exclaimed, waving his arms wildly in dismay.

But the Corellian Transport suddenly came into view through the thick clouds above the mountains. Leia guided the ship back into the valley for a smooth landing, with Chewbacca copiloting.

The moment Luke climbed up the ramp and boarded the ship, Leia hugged her brother. "Luke, you’re safe!" she exclaimed. "And so are we, but just barely. An Imperial probe droid flew overhead and spotted us just after you left. We blasted off to take it out of action."

"We’d better get this ship off the ground fast," Han said, as the archaeologists stowed their crates of relics onto the transport ship, "before any Imperials find us and realize we’ve filled the storage hold with the treasures of Duro."

"Han and I will navigate, Chewie," Princess Leia said. "I think Han still doesn’t believe how well I can fly a Corellian Action VI Transport spaceship. Shall I show him?"

"Grooooarf!" Chewbacca agreed, tucking his furry hands behind his head and putting his feet up on the console.

Han gave Leia a kiss on the cheek. "Are you ready, copilot?" he asked her. "Go ahead and power up."

As the ship lifted from the ground, it tipped and vibrated from all the weight now aboard.

Never had a Corellian Action VI Transport been so packed, from the cargo hold all the way to the passenger lounge.

"I want you to know," Triclops said, sitting next to Luke, "that if the day ever comes that I sit upon the Imperial throne as my father did, I’ll force the Empire to pay for what it did to the planet Duro. I’ll take the Empire apart, brigade by brigade, one mechanized army at a time, until the Dark Side is completely powerless."

"That’s a nice dream," Luke said.

"My dreams shall become real," Triclops replied.

"You’ve helped us so far," Luke said. "Still, you’ll have to prove yourself to the Alliance. Mon Mothma will have to keep you under guard, I’m afraid, until she’s convinced beyond any doubt that you’re not a spy."

But Triclops was no longer listening. All three of his eyes were now closed, and he drifted off, falling into a deep sleep.

A few days later, the misty clouds of Dagobah parted as two spaceships came zooming toward the peak of Mount Yoda: the Millennium Falcon, which had been fully repaired at Orbiting Shipyard Alpha, and the Corellian Action VI Transport with the treasures of Duro aboard.

At the landing pad the members of the returning mission from Mount Yoda were greeted by Mon Mothma and Ken’s personal droid, Chip. As Luke had warned, guards surrounded Triclops and took him in custody for observation. Triclops did not resist. To Luke and Leia’s astonishment, they then saw Dustini walking briskly over to them from the main DRAPAC

building.

Having recovered with the help of Alliance medical droids, Dustini hugged Dustangle and the other Duro archaeologists. As he beheld the storehouse of treasures in the cargo hold, Dustini’s eyes widened in amazement.

"Thank you, Luke-thank you, everyone!" Dustini said. "Now the history of our planet Duro will be preserved, to be studied by future generations."

"Speaking of study," Chip said, putting his hands on his metallic hips, "I see that our truant student has finally returned to start school at Dagobah Tech."

"Missing school was an accident, Chip," Ken replied. "I couldn’t help it."

"A likely story," Chip said sternly. "A very likely story indeed."

As the guards took Triclops toward an entrance into DRAPAC, Ken glanced at the Imperial prisoner. Ken couldn’t help but wonder why the Empire had decided to keep Triclops alive for all these years, especially since the Empire considered him to be such a threat.

Could Triclops prove to be a threat to the Alliance as well? Were these really the last days of the Alliance, as in Kadann’s recent prophecy?

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.

A visitor had been pierced by gold. And now the son of the evil Emperor Palpatine was in their midst, claiming to be a pacifist who wanted to destroy his father’s Empire.

It was all too troublesome for a boy of twelve to dwell on, especially when Leia distracted him by reaching over and mussing up his moppy brown hair.

Ken and Leia both grinned, breaking into wide smiles at the same instant. It was a good feeling, Ken thought-to be back with all his friends from SPIN, sheltered at the mountaintop fortress on the planet that the wise Jedi master Yoda once called home. It was a good feeling indeed.

Glossary

Assassin droid

A very menacing and dangerous Imperial droid designed to carry out assassinations. An assassin droid assists Triclops in his escape from the Imperial Reprogramming Institute.

Carbonite

A substance made from Tibanna gas, plentiful on the planet Bespin, where it is mined and sold in liquid form as a fuel in Cloud City. When carbonite is turned into a solid, it can be used for keeping humans or other organisms alive in a State of suspended animation, encasing them completely. Zorba the Hutt encased Trioculus in carbonite, just as Darth Vader did to Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.

Chief Muskov

Chief of the Cloud Police of Cloud City.

Chip (short for Microchip)

Ken’s personal droid, who lived with him in the Lost City of the Jedi and has now gone out into the world with him.

Corellian Action VI Transport

A space transport that Han and Chewbacca pilot from Orbiting Shipyard Alpha to the surface of the planet Duro.

Defeen

A cunning, sharp-clawed Defel alien. Defeen is an interrogator first class at the Imperial Reprogramming Institute in the Valley of Royalty on the planet Duro.

BOOK: Star Wars: Jedi Prince 4: Mission from Mount Yoda
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