Star Wars - 215 - Jedi Prince 06 - Prophets of the Dark Side (3 page)

"I see that the master computer is on-line," Ken said, noticing the computer’s main menu of files and operations that filled its screen. "Commander Skywalker and I need the blueprint you helped me design for the Omniprobe device. Remember my homework assignment?"

"Of course," Dee-Jay replied. "Seems to me I was the one who did almost all of the technical work."

"Let’s see if I can still locate the master file," Ken said. He sat at the controls and tried to program the computer to bring up the data he wanted. But he punched the wrong code by mistake and instead brought up a file called Imperial Space Stations.

"You won’t find the Omniprobe blueprint there," Dee-Jay said.. "But you might discover in that file secrets of Space Station Scardia and other major Imperial outposts located in deep space."

"Scardia!" Ken exclaimed. "That’s the home of Kadann and the Imperial Prophets of the Dark Side!"

"Correct," Dee-Jay replied. "And speaking of Kadann, very recently he made some very troublesome new prophecies. We’ve only just learned of them. For instance-" Dee-Jay leaned over Ken’s shoulder and touched the computer controls with his metallic fingers. Instantly, the screen was filled with four-line prophecies made by the black-bearded dwarf Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side. Dee-Jay enlarged one particular prophecy until it filled the screen:

When the Jedi Knight.

Becomes a captive of Scardia,

Then shall the Jedi Prince

Betray the Lost City.

"That prophecy talks about a Jedi Knight being a captive of Scardia," Ken said. Turning to Luke, he continued, "I guess that means you, Luke, or perhaps Leia being a captive of Space Station Scardia and the Prophets of the Dark Side. It also talks about a Jedi Prince-that must be me!-betraying the Lost City to the Empire. But that could never happen!"

"I certainly hope not," Dee-Jay said. "This city is a sacred place, and no Imperial must ever set foot in it."

"No Imperial ever shall," Ken replied with confidence.

"Kadann has no special powers to see the future," Luke said. "Remember what Yoda told me:

’Always in motion is the future.’ That means that the future isn’t something that’s fixed ahead of time, waiting to happen."

"So the future is always changing, always evolving up until the moment it actually arrives?" Ken asked.

"Exactly," Luke explained. "And that’s why we all decide our own destinies by the choices we make."

Ken nodded. He had made a choice-the choice to join the Rebel Alliance. And that choice had influenced his destiny. But there was one choice he would certainly never make. No matter what Kadann predicted, Ken would never betray the Lost City!

CHAPTER 3

A Time for Feasting

Zorba the Hutt had arrived at the home of the Prophets of the Dark Side. After negotiating a ride from the jawas, a cargo spaceship pilot had flown Zorba all the way from Mos Eisley on Tatooine into the dreaded Null Zone of deep space.

When the Prophets of the Dark Side learned that Zorba had come with valuable information, they honored the Hutt with a huge banquet in Scardia’s formal dining hall. The refined prophets, who had elegant manners, and who always dined using the finest black linen and spotless black plates, winced at seeing Zorba’s slovenly ways. Zorba gobbled everything in sight and burped repeatedly, rudely displaying his thick, slobbering, drooling tongue. High Prophet Jedgar, seated at Zorba’s right at the long banquet table, gasped in shock as Zorba splattered his serving of zoochberry dumplings, staining Jedgar’s sparkling robe.

"Ahhhhhh," Zorba moaned with pleasure, reaching for another stewed Mynock bat. "Delicious. And I must compliment you prophets on your fried Bantha steaks." Zorba glanced around the room as he rudely chomped on a piece of raw rancor-beast liver, which hung out of the side of his mouth and dripped rancor-blood down his braided white beard.

"You give the impression you haven’t had a bite to eat for an eternity," Kadann said.

"Hardly a bite for days," Zorba replied. "After the Mouth of Sarlacc spit me out-Hutts are not digestible, you know-I crawled for ten long, hot days through the Tatooine desert, surviving by eating cactabushes, thorns and all. Finally I saw a sandcrawler. To get a ride to the Mos Eisley Spaceport, I promised the jawas a hundred barely used, practically new Spin-and-Win machines from the Holiday Towers Hotel and Casino. Then I had to promise to pay fifty gemstones to get a cargo pilot to bring me here. But I made the sacrifice because of my patriotic duty to the Empire. I have come to tell you that the Imperial grand moffs are traitors. They’ve been plotting to destroy you!"

"I’ve already alerted several star destroyers to be on the lookout for the Moffship, to arrest the grand moff leaders and bring them here to stand trial," Kadann said. Zorba stuffed his mouth with two more zoochberry dumplings, chewing them up and gulping them down before Kadann finished his sentence. Then Zorba’s wandering eyes fell on the stylish glass cases that decorated the banquet room, cases filled with ancient collectibles that Kadann had stolen from throughout the galaxy.

"You certainly have enchanting relics, Kadann," Zorba said, chewing loudly. "Which leads me to ask whether you’ve managed to plunder any relics from the Lost City of the Jedi." Kadann narrowed his gaze and stared intensely at the blubbery Hutt. "What do you know of the Lost City?" Kadann asked.

"Only that Trioculus tried to locate the Lost City because he wanted to capture the Jedi Prince named Ken who used to live there," Zorba replied. "But Trioculus failed."

"Yes, and he paid a large price for his failure," Kadann said gruffly. "I told Trioculus to find the Lost City of the Jedi and destroy the Jedi Prince, or his reign over the Empire would be brief. I knew he would never succeed, but we have no choice, we must all live out our destinies. That prophecy came true, as all of mine do."

"URRRRRP! Of course. Congratulations on the accuracy of your prophecies, Kadann," Zorba said. And then he burped again. "URRRRRRRRP! By the way, it’s been said that your prophets go to great lengths and quite a lot of effort to make certain that your prophecies come true. There isn’t any truth to that rumor, is there?"

"Where have you heard that?" Kadann asked with a scowl.

"I’ve heard it said by the grand moffs. They claim that anyone who has as many spies, assassins, bounty hunters, and bribe-payers as you do could make the future turn out any way he likes."

"That’s an outrageous lie!" High Prophet Jedgar interrupted angrily.

"My sentiments exactly," Zorba said. "I thought it was a lie when I heard the traitors say it."

"Although Trioculus failed in his quest to locate the Lost City, Supreme Prophet Kadann shall find it soon enough," High Prophet Jedgar declared with assurance.

"And when you do, Kadann, I’ll bet you’ll add quite a few relics to your splendid collection," Zorba said. "A-haw-haw-haw . . ."

"I’m not looking for the Lost City to collect Jedi relics," Kadann said with a little smile. "I’m far more interested in the master computer that’s said to be inside the Jedi Library."

"Yes," High Prophet Jedgar agreed. "It contains all the secrets of the Jedi Knights. That information could be used to destroy the Rebel Alliance forever." In a very clumsy move, Zorba accidentally spilled some juice on the handmade carpet from Endor. Then he rolled his sluglike tail over the stains, pressing down with the weight of several tons. Kadann nearly choked as Zorba ruined his favorite carpet that had taken a hundred Ewoks five years to make.

"Of all the explorers who have searched for the Lost City," Zorba continued, "I don’t know of any who has lived to tell the tale."

"I shall live to tell the tale," Kadann said, wiping his lips as he munched his Bantha steak. "The Jedi Prince, Ken, will lead me there personally." Kadann broke into a very broad smile, which prompted the other prophets to smile too. Then they all began to snicker and laugh. However, Zorba’s laugh was the loudest of them all.

"A-haw-haw-haw-haw-haw . !"

Luke Skywalker flew his airspeeder low above the trees of the rain forest on Yavin Four, with Ken holding on tightly behind him. As they made their way back to the Alliance Senate building, the airspeeder zigzagged around the pointy spires of the ancient temples and pyramids that rose above the canopy of thick green leaves.

In the lounge outside the Senate conference room, Princess Leia. took a few moments away from her work for the Alliance, so that she could read the wedding guest list to Han. Ever since Zorba the Hutt had spoiled Han and Leia’s plans to quickly elope at Hologram Fun World, the two of them had been planning a wedding at which hundreds of guests would fly in from halfway across the galaxy.

See-Threepio was assisting Leia with the guest list and banquet seating chart, while barrel-shaped Artoo-Detoo scooted around on his wheels.

"Han, do you think Admiral Ackbar should sit with the delegation from Calamari?" Leia asked. "Or should we put him at the table with the top Alliance officials like Mon Mothma?"

"Hmmh?" Han said. He was sitting on a floating cushion with a thick, secret SPIN report in his lap-a report about Triclops. "Sounds okay to me, I guess."

"What sounds okay, Han?" Leia asked with annoyance. "Which seating location do you prefer for Admiral Ackbar at the wedding reception?"

"Whichever you like, Leia," Han commented, not really paying any attention. "Makes no difference, as far as I can tell."

"Aren’t you interested in helping to plan the most important day of our lives, Han?" Leia asked.

"Face it, Leia," Han said, "I’m just not cut out to plan big social events. The biggest party I ever had-my housewarming party for my sky house-was strictly informal. I did the cooking myself with Chewie, and I brought in a Corellian band to provide all the entertainment. That was the extent of it. But big weddings, that’s a Bantha of a different color."

"You’re not interested in anything new and different, Han," Leia said, "unless it’s some daredevil feat-something so dangerous you can get yourself killed doing it."

"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 Space Station Scardia, a trial was about to begin. Four grand moffs had been arrested in their Moffship 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 balls 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.